72 Hours Review: Kevin Hart Stars in Another Case of Tim Story’s Recycled Writing

You have to wonder whether Netflix’s 72 Hours is simply another excuse for Kevin Hart to cash a paycheck. Hart is a gifted comedic talent who has also proven himself to be a capable dramatic actor in films such as Fatherhood and The Upside. There is no reason for him to keep making recycled buddy-action comedies, especially one that has not matured alongside his own artistic growth.

Of course, if you like Hart and are a fan of his collaborations with filmmaker Tim Story, you will probably enjoy the streaming giant’s 72 Hours. It also helps to be a casual fan of the medium who may not recognize how recycled the material is. However, that is a shame, because Kevin Hart’s talent and the charm of the young cast are wasted on this stale retread.

What is Netflix’s 72 Hours about?

The story follows Joe (Kevin Hart), a corporate advertising executive who has just lost a major account after tanking his third pitch. Joe’s boss (Kevin Dunn) gives it to him straight: Joe does not have his finger on the pulse of how to market to a younger demographic. A shot to Joe’s ego, he comes up with an (absurd) plan to get the account back and prove he is worthy of such a promotion.

The plan? Well, Joe is accidentally added to a group chat for a bachelor party filled with young twenty-somethings. As a show of goodwill, he donates some money to their cause. Despite his coworker Barry (Severance’s Zack Cherry) telling him he should not go, Joe believes a weekend spent partying with a bunch of twenty-somethings will give him insight and inspiration into the young male mind, hoping for a youth quake.

The boys include Mason (Mason Gooding), a twenty-something who is ready to tie the knot. The group’s leader, Nick (Happy Gilmore 2’s Marcello Hernández), is your typical f*ckboy: immature, cocky, and eager to party. Then there is the group’s “woke” member, Hunter (Please Don’t Destroy’s Ben Marshall), who is recovering from a breakup after his engagement ended over his refusal to take his ex-fiancée’s last name.

Netflix’s 72 Hours Review

Finally, there is Freshman (Saturday Night Live’s Kam Patterson), the Rose Nylund of the group, who earned his nickname after repeating his freshman year because they added “letters” to math. This is the group Joe leaves his beautiful, patient, and understanding girlfriend, Jennifer (Academy Award nominee Teyana Taylor, wasted in the role here), to party with, causing her to question her boyfriend’s values and maturity.

72 Hours comes from director Tim Story, the filmmaker behind Barbershop and two Kevin Hart franchises: Think Like a Man and Ride Along. Story sticks to his same formula, finding a legendary comic talent who has a rift with his significant other, and the story evolves into a generic, mind-numbing action picture that offers nothing new to the genre. You guess everything that is going to happen, following the streaming playbook step by step.

What you will like about the script is that it allows Hart to make fun of himself. In a role reversal, the famed comedian and actor settles nicely into playing the out-of-touch straight man and generational punching bag for the young bucks. Of course, there are four writers attached to the script, with The Pickup’s Matt Mider and Kevin Burrows rewriting a script from Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, causing the comedy to be overwritten.

Is Netflix’s 72 Hours worth watching?

Hart has his moments, but most of the laughs come from the chemistry among SNL’s Hernández, Marshall, and Patterson, while Gooding mostly stands around taking up space. This makes the film feel like two different movies, with Hart’s character forced into the story like a puzzle piece that does not quite fit. The comedy would have worked better by focusing on the four younger men reacting to one another rather than centering Hart’s character.

There is simply too much going on in 72 Hours. The film does not need absurd plot points involving Joe studying young people for marketing purposes or a 1980s-style buddy-action subplot featuring Better Call Saul’s Michael Mando. Instead of becoming a fun comedy about reciprocity, we get a generic action comedy that Netflix has recycled time and time again, with several big stars, where the subscription game prioritizes content over quality.

You can stream 72 Hours exclusively on Netflix starting July 24th!

72 Hours Review: Kevin Hart Stars in Another Case of Tim Story’s Recycled Writing