Image via Complex Original
35.
It's not your imagination: you really are seeing Kevin Hart everywhere.
In just 12 years, the diminutive comedy tornado from Philly has appeared in 35 movies, including 28 that played in U.S. theaters, and another seven that went straight to DVD or screened overseas. They range from starring vehicles like his stand-up films and The Wedding Ringer, to tiny cameos in productions like Drillbit Taylor and Along Came Polly, to large roles in obscure movies you've never heard of.
He's played characters named Trey, Tree, Ben, Bernie, Barry, Dante, Cleavon, and Nashawn. Five of his movies have "movie" in the title (Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 4, Epic Movie, Extreme Movie, and Superhero Movie), and three of them have the number five in the title (Top Five, The Five-Year-Engagement, and 35 and Counting). He's played many fictional characters who are basically exaggerated versions of his real-life persona, while the one time he did play "himself"—This Is the End—the character was nothing like Hart.
There's not much you can say that applies to all of Kevin Hart's movie performances. His characters are mostly funny, and many times he's made unforgettable appearances in movies that are otherwise not very good. But this is not always the case. It would be a stretch to say he plays a variety of characters because it's that familiar Kevin Hart brand of hyperactive boasting (often followed by hilarious cowering) that fans love.
Here are all of Kevin Hart's on-screen appearances, from the he-should-be-embarrassed worst to the he-should-be-proud best.
34.Epic Movie (2007)
Role: Silas (uncredited)
Hart is in whiteface as a self-flaggelating albino assassin from The Da Vinci Code. He speaks only in Latin and non-lingual high-pitched shrieks, managing to be annoying despite limited screen time. Then again, everyone in this movie is annoying. Don't hate the player; hate the film.
33.Let Go (2011)
Role: Kris
One of the most forgettable films Hart has been in is this indie comedy where he plays one of three parolees whose actions hold consequences for their probation officer. (The other two are Gillian Jacobs and Ed Asner.) Hart plays an ex-doctor whose wife left him when he went to prison for insurance fraud. The guy spends most of the movie discouraged and glum, and he's not particularly funny in the series of menial jobs he takes as an ex-con. Hart himself seems like he took the gig half-heartedly.
32.Superhero Movie (2008)
Role: Trey
As the friend of Peter Parker in this Spider-Man spoof, Hart is a nerd in his first scene (he has a lot of Apple products, including an iDrink juice box). After that, he's just there when someone needs to be abused. Eh, it's a living.
31.School Dance (2014)
Role: O.G. Li'l Pretty Thug (uncredited)
He plays a trash-talking Compton gangster who gets beaten up by Wilmer Valderrama and is thereafter seen only in a full body cast. It'd be hard to imagine the indignity if it wasn't onscreen.
30.Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006)
Role: C.J.
Most of his dialogue involves dumb paradoxical arguments with Anthony Anderson, like whether you can “wake up dead” or “turn up missing.” Is this banter funny? Not very. But Hart sells it. (Except for the embarrassing Brokeback Mountain parody in Scary Movie 4, where he and Anderson both seem suitably ashamed.)
29.Soul Plane (2004)
Role: Nashawn
There are some really funny scenes in this movie, and Hart is the star, but he is not the star of any of the really funny scenes. His character, a regular guy who uses his $100 million lawsuit winnings to start a black airline, mostly plays straight man to Snoop Dogg, Method Man, and Tom Arnold. For a leading role, it's disappointingly ordinary—except at the beginning, when he gets his butt stuck to an airplane toilet.
28.Along Came Polly (2004)
Role: Vic the sound guy
All he does is hold the boom mic while a cameraman follows Philip Seymour Hoffman, and, while taking a break, he sits at the kitchen table. But you really believe he's doing both of those things when he does them.
27.The Five-Year Engagement (2012)
Role: Doug
Hart is barely in this film (he plays one of Emily Blunt's fellow grad students), and when he's around, he's mostly just part of the ensemble. Being a team player is good, though. When he wants to, he can blend in with the best of them.
26.Exit Strategy (2012)
Role: Mannequin Head Man
This dismal un-romantic comedy (about a guy who moves in with his girlfriend too soon and realizes she's awful) was overlooked by most people, and for good reason. Hart appears in one scene as a random stranger who comes into the main character's second-hand store to buy a mannequin head, and ends up listening to the man's relationship problems. Hart is funny-ish, but you can tell the only reason he's here is because someone involved in the production convinced him to stop by the set for a couple hours. (They made sure to include him in the film's trailer.)
25.Extreme Movie (2008)
Role: Barry
This poor movie is a series of sketches that are loose spoofs of various sex comedies. Hart's in the Weird Science parody, where he and a fellow "teenager" (Hart was 29) use a computer to make a sexy lady. But she turns out to be a big fat thing! The boys are terrified. It is implied that the woman rapes Hart (but in a funny way, I guess?). Anyway, Hart plays the awful scene with full energy.
24.Little Fockers (2010)
Role: Nurse Louis
Hart's only purpose in this movie is to observe Jessica Alba flirting with Ben Stiller at the hospital, and to hilariously react when they minister to a patient's anus. Hart is reasonably effective in this role, but it's an unfortunate waste of his talents.
23.Meet Dave (2008)
Role: No. 17
This is the movie where Eddie Murphy is a robot/spaceship controlled by dozens of tiny aliens. Hart plays a technician who rappels down to Dave's right leg to fix his broken ankle. He later falls into Scott Caan's coffee cup. With only a few minutes of total screen time, Hart still gets sixth billing in the movie. That's star power (and a good agent).
22.Fool's Gold (2008)
Role: Bigg Bunny
He's a gangster here, named Bigg Bunny, who's first seen holding a rabbit in his lap. He plays it tough most of the time, but gets frantic in some of the later scenes. Though he's a villain, he isn't definitively killed at the end of the movie, so he could be back in the sequel. (There will not be a sequel.)
21.Paper Soldiers (2002)
Role: Shawn
Hart's first movie role was the lead in this crime comedy produced by Jay Z's Roc-A-Fella record label. (Jay has a brief, wordless cameo.) Hart plays a low-level crook who wants to get into the breaking-and-entering game with the heavy rollers. The film went straight to DVD, but has since gained a cult following. Hart earns a few laughs as the new kid on the crime block who wants to be taken seriously.
20.Death at a Funeral (2010)
Role: Brian
Hart has two brief but amusing scenes as a quiet, incompetent funeral director who has misplaced Chris Rock's father: “He's in one of two places. I think it's the second place.”
19.Drillbit Taylor (2008)
Role: Pawn Shop Employee
Hart gets indignant when Owen Wilson and Danny McBride besmirch the character of the pawn shop's other customers. Hart is actually funnier in this deleted scene from the DVD.
18.The Wedding Ringer (2015)
Role: Jimmy
A guy who runs a business as a best-man-for-hire sounds like the perfect role for Hart. He'd need to be confident, fast-talking, and good at lying—all strong suits for the actor. Alas, there's only so much he could do with this watered-down screenplay, but he certainly didn't fail to commit to the performance.
17.The Last Stand (2013)
Role: F Stop
Hart has less than five minutes of screen time in this weak dramedy about stand-up comedians, but he ends it memorably. He plays a bad ventriloquist who argues with his dummy offstage and finally has a psychotic break onstage. Hart's performance is legitimately dramatic and one of his best.
16.In the Mix (2005)
Role: Busta
This is a movie about a DJ who saves a mobster's life and is rewarded with a job as a bodyguard for the mobster's daughter. Hart doesn't play any of those people. He plays the DJ's friend, and his best scene is probably when they all play poker.
15.Think Like a Man (2012)
Role: Cedric
His ex-wife used to beat him up, which I guess is funny? (Pretty bold thing to joke about in a movie that also stars Chris Brown, but that's not Hart's fault.) Hart is the happily newly divorced man in an ensemble about couples, so his story doesn't get much play; he's mostly just here for his clownery. He gets to be the narrator, too.
14.Think Like a Man Too (2014)
Role: Cedric
More of the same, but maybe a little funnier this time. By now, Hart was an A-list star, a real box office draw. Audiences were expecting more of him, so they got it.
13.Death of a Dynasty (2003)
Role: P. Diddy
This broad satire of the hip-hop industry got a tiny theatrical release in 2005 after playing at some festivals in 2003. Kevin plays P. Diddy. It was only his second movie (the first was in the even more obscure crime comedy Paper Soldiers), but you can see his confidence already.
12.Grudge Match (2013)
Role: Dante Slate, Jr.
Hart plays a boxing promoter, and is actually pretty restrained considering how flamboyant boxing promoters can be. He's opportunistic but not over the top—a feisty, likable performance. His most Kevin-like moments are when he's bickering with Alan Arkin.
11.Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain (2011)
Role: Himself
Finally establishing himself as a big-time star, Hart talks a lot about the problems of the rich and famous in this movie, so it's not as relatable as some of his other material. But this is also where he impersonates his coke-addled father (“All right, all right, all riiiight”). Whether you find Hart funny or not, this show exemplifies his skill as a performer. (Do yourself a favor and don't watch the Reservoir Dogs-inspired short film at the end.)
10.Not Easily Broken (2009)
Role: Tree
Morris Chestnut is the lead, Eddie Cibrian is his best friend, and Kevin Hart plays the third part of their trio—a happily married man who gets emotional when he talks about his wife. It's a softer side of Hart, and he uses it well.
9.Get Hard (2015)
Role: Darnell
Get Hard was disappointing overall, but Hart and co-star Will Ferrell play well against each other. Nowhere is that more true than in the scene where Hart impersonates three different types of characters that Ferrell will encounter in prison. It's pure, undiluted Kevin Hart madness.
8.35 and Ticking (2011)
Role: Cleavon
This character is a departure for Kevin; he's shy, awkward, and the butt of his friends' jokes because his only job is contributing at a sperm bank. The movie is a mid-grade romantic comedy, but Kevin is actually charming as an insecure person.
7.Something Like a Business
Role: JoJo
Hart has the lead role in this strange, occasionally funny straight-to-DVD spoof about a man who inherits his uncle's escort service and runs afoul of competing pimps. The jokes and parodies are all over the place, ranging from a Hustle & Flow riff to some straight-up racism (owners of a Korean restaurant keep trying to get their hands on JoJo's dog). Hart is loose and relaxed here—well, as relaxed as he gets—and has fun with the low-budget, low-stress atmosphere.
6.This Is the End (2013)
Role: Himself
At James Franco's party, Kevin is inordinately amused by Jason Segel's How I Met Your Mother anecdotes. He subsequently kicks Aziz Ansari in the face before being knocked into the bottomless pit himself. His inexplicable delight at Segel's mundane story is hilarious.
5.Top Five (2014)
Role: Charles, Andre Allen's agent
He only has one scene, and he's alone in it (he's on the phone talking to Chris Rock), but Hart still manages to earn laughs as Andre's opinionated agent. The main topic of discussion: whether a black person can get fired for saying the n-word.
4.About Last Night (2014)
Role: Bernie
Technically, Hart is the sidekick in this romantic comedy. But he and Regina Hall stole the show from Joy Bryant and Michael Ealy. Hart's manic energy is put to good use, especially in the sex scenes.
3.The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
Role: SmartTech Customer
His brief cameo as a customer whose beef with Romany Malco escalates into gang threats is hilarious. Malco has the better lines overall, but Hart's “You somebody's n***a, wearin' this n***a tie” is a classic.
2.Ride Along (2014)
Role: Ben Barber
Hart is in his groove here, playing a guy who can talk or luck his way out of anything. He switches from ignorant confidence to terrified anxiety at the drop of a hat. The scene where he responds to a hostage crisis thinking it's fake is quintessential Kevin Hart, right down to the high-pitched scream when a gun is fired.
1.Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (2013)
Role: Himself
His 2013 stand-up film is massively self-indulgent—17 minutes of aimless back-patting and defensive skits, followed by 50 minutes of comedy—but it's also Hart's realest. As cocky as he is, he's also touchingly sincere. But he's never more lovable than in the instant-classic “bum bump” bit, when he struggles to get out a punchline because he can't stop laughing. You can feel the joy emanating from the stage.