NIGHT SCHOOL (Rated PG-13)

Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish make a great pair as student and teacher, respectively, in “Night School.” For the uninitiated, Hart, a comedian of short stature, seems to be a regular immature screw-up and Haddish basks in the glow of a big splash last year in “Girls Trip.”

The premise of this comedy is fairly simple, despite the fact that six writers, with one of them being Hart, have a hand in crafting a story that is at best uneven yet nevertheless filled with enough gags and laughs.

Hart’s Teddy Walker is a high school dropout. In an early scene, Teddy makes a big stink during the SAT exams, walking out on his classmates and informing them he’s going to succeed in the real world without a diploma.

Soon thereafter, Teddy’s making his mark as the top salesman at an Atlanta barbeque grill store. He drives a fancy sports car and lives way beyond his means. In short, though not referring to his height, Teddy is a showboat.

One thing he has going for him, which could prove his undoing during his deceptions, is a beautiful girlfriend in savvy businesswoman Lisa (Megalyn Echikunwoke) who favors an expensive lifestyle.

How their relationship will last becomes a question once he loses his job in an explosion and resorts to menial work at a fast food joint. Meanwhile, he learns from old school pal Marvin (Ben Schwartz) that he’ll need a GED to get a position as a financial analyst.

The comedic scenes start to roll when he joins a night school class taught by Carrie (Tiffany Haddish), a tough cookie who won’t tolerate Teddy’s frivolous behavior in a classroom filled with hopeless losers.

The great ensemble includes a housewife (Mary Lynn Rajskub) eager to free herself from her children, a Mexican waiter (Al Madrigal) who wants to be a singer or dental hygienist, a furniture mover dumber than a lampshade (Rob Riggle), and Romany Malco’s conspiracy nut.

Unfortunately for Teddy, the school principal (Taran Killan) is an old nemesis from high school days who wants nothing more than to be a thorn in his side. Thus, Teddy organizes a heist of the GED exam and all sorts of mayhem breaks loose.

“Night School” gets a passing grade for its humor and laughs if the scoring is done on the curve. In any case, this comedy is a silly trifle that amuses in the moment but is unlikely to leave a lasting impression beyond a date night outing.



‘THE GOOD COP’ ON NETFLIX

Netflix has an eclectic mix of programming, but it may be fair to say that a lot of its series tilts to an edgier genre than you would find on network television. “The Good Cop” would likely fit right in on the CBS or FOX schedule.

A taste for traditional fare in a police procedural with plenty of wisecracking and one-liners should hold appeal for an older demographic. After all, “The Good Cop” has Tony Danza starring as Tony Caruso, a former hotshot NYPD detective out on parole for corruption charges.

As a condition of his release, Tony has to live with his uptight, nerdy son Tony Jr. (Josh Groban), an NYPD detective who goes by the name T.J. as if to separate himself from the tarnish placed on the family name.

Ordered to stay away from police work, Tony insinuates himself into every case assigned to his son. While father and son won’t work as a team, they make a terrific odd couple almost as if Tony Randall and Jack Klugman were police detectives suffering each other’s foibles.

As opposed to the disgraced rogue Tony the failed role model, T.J. is so by-the-book and straight-laced that he argues the moral imperative about the offense of his father pinching sugar packets from IHOP and napkins from Dunkin’ Donuts.

The family dynamic may be dysfunctional, but they both need each other for different reasons. In the first episode, both father and son end up as suspects in the shooting death of a cop plugged by bullets traced back to T.J.’s police-issued handgun.

The resolution of the case has a few twists and turns but in the end you know some logical explanation is at hand for why T.J. is no more a cold-blooded killer than Mother Teresa. “The Good Cop” won’t disappoint as far as tidy outcomes are achieved.

The show has some delightful banter and wisecracks. A veteran cop tells a colleague that a lot of things don’t make sense. He makes his case by questioning such things as “why are nickels bigger than dimes.”

He goes on with asking “why does Hawaii have an interstate highway,” and “why did The Flintstones celebrate Christmas.” This is the sort of thinking that could lead to interesting parlor games.

“The Good Cop,” benefitting from the pairing of Tony Danza and Josh Groban, is easy to take for an entertaining diversion from grittier cop fare.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.