Night School (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

You know that old saying don’t judge a book by its cover?  Well that’s exactly what I did here with 2018’s Kevin Hart comedy Night School.  I thought the trailer looked putrid and I honestly wanted nothing to do with ever seeing the film.  Evidently the rest of my team shares those sentiments as when I received this title no one was clamoring to do the needful with.  Therefore, I thought I was taking one for the team.  What shocked me though is what I really found was a good time.  The comedy I wanted nothing to do with won me over.  Now don’t get ahead of me.  It’s not going to win any movie of the year prizes or anything like that.  However, unlike the majority of critics out there I found Night School to not only be above average, but one that I’m stoked about adding to my personal home media collection for future viewings of.

Film 

Before we talk about what Night School is all about and why I liked it more than the average lay critic we need to take care of some proverbial housekeeping first.  The film is directed by the man who brought you Girls Trip and Best Man, Malcolm D. Lee.  In addition to Kevin Hart the comedy features an all-star cast that includes Tiffany Haddish, Taran Killam, the hilarious Rob Riggle and a man I haven’t seen for quite some time, Romany Malco (from one of my personal favorites The 40-Year Old Virgin).  Night School follows then life of a successful, hustling salesman (Hart) who from appearances seems to have it all, but the reality of situation is he’s anything but.  He doesn’t have his high school diploma and no one’s the wiser.  However, to retain the love of his life he’s secretly going to have to earn his GED.

So for anyone that’s seen the trailer for Night School before yes Kevin Hart’s character, Teddy Walker, never graduated high school.  Now I’m going to circumvent certain plot points in order to guarantee a spoiler review here so let’s just say years later Teddy finds himself in night school.  He’s going back to get a GED, land a job and like most stories that exist to get that girl of his dreams.  However, like in real life nothing is ever just that easy.  He’s doing all of this on the down low as to not let his girl find out and three main obstacles stand in his way: 1) he’s not the smartest tool in the shed, 2) a night school teacher with no patience for Teddy’s shenanigans (Tiffany Haddish) and 3) it just so happens his high school nemesis is back in his life (Taran Killam), but I won’t spill the beans on how.

On the surface Night School looks like your everyday, safe Netflix comedy.  In fact its PG-13 rating is one of the things which initially turned me off about this production.  I’m a child of the 80’s and because of that the R-rating is pretty much branded into me.  Take a comedy flick like The 40-Year Old Virgin or Something About Mary and tell me how that works with a PG-13 rating.  It doesn’t in my opinion.  I do realize those are both of the raunchy comedy genre, but my point is to make me laugh I need unfiltered content or at least I thought I did.  Much to my surprise I let out more than a few hearty laughs while watching Night School.  The jokes may not be all that apparent and plentiful, but listen with open ears and the zingers are truly there.  Therefore, Night School won me over.  However, it wasn’t all the laughs that won me over.  Night School has heart.  Let me explain that a bit more.

I realize my film score here is a lot more generous than most reviewers of this film, but for me it struck an accord.  Here’s a man so wrapped up in his appearances that he’s forced to live one lie after another until he comes full circles with his demons.  Does it remind you of anyone?  How about pretty much all of us?  Ha!  All I’m saying is that if you lose yourself to Night School it’s completely relatable as we all want to be the very best versions of ourselves, at least I would hope so.  On top of that the cast in my opinion just clicks.  I read so many reviews where they say Kevin Hart has no help here.  I disagree with that.  I found them all complementary of each other, feeding off each other and stronger because of each other.  The cliche motley crew of classmates (even Chloe from TV’s 24) Hart has to work with in addition to his yin yang opposing chemistry with the teacher completely works for me.  Maybe it’s me and maybe I’m just being a sap, but call me a fan of Night School.  I’m so glad I took this assignment.

Video 

The below video score and related critique of things here are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Universal’s Night School.

• Encoding: HEVC / H.265
• Resolution: 4K (2160p)
• Dolby Vision: No
• HDR: Yes
• Size: BD-66
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Clarity/Detail: Night School comes to you on 4K via a beautiful looking 2K DI.  Picture any sharp looking comedy on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format and Night School fits the bill perfectly.  You have pores, sweat, moles, hairs and textures galore clearly on display.  There is some minor source noise and green screen moments throughout, but nothing that ever really distracts from the clarity of things here.
• Depth: The onscreen characters pop with the utmost of clarity and three-dimensional qualities so there’s no doubt that depth of field is in effect.  However, there are moments of green screen use like an explosion scene where things are flat.  Those moments though are very few and far between.  For the most part the depth of field exists throughout.  All you have to do is look no further than the classroom halls in the high school to appreciate things here.
• Black Levels: The black levels are all deep and inky throughout with nice contrast to boot here.
• Color Reproduction: The colors are all punchy, bold and bright throughout.  There are some yellowish moments throughout, especially in the makeup of one of the female stars, but for the most part the colors are vivid and lively just like a comedy should be popping on the 4K format.  See what I am doing there?  I keep going back to the fact that if you can imagine any good looking comedy on the 4K or Blu-ray format, then you know exactly what to expect here with Night School.
• Flesh Tones: As I mentioned before minus the yellowish makeup one female star adorns the skin tones all look natural and authentic looking throughout.
• Noise/Artifacts: There’s a very thin veneer layer of source noise throughout, but truly things are flawless here with no banding or nasty artifacts to drive things down here in the grading department.

Audio 

Like I mentioned up above in the video section, the below audio score and critical comments of such are based solely upon my viewing of Universal’s amazeballs sounding 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Night School.  How I love Universal’s DTS:X tracks.  They are so much more in your face than an average Dolby Atmos one, but I digress.  I do want you to know that both the 4K UHD Disc and the Blu-ray one comes armed with the absolutely stunning for a comedy DTS:X surround track.

• Audio Format(s): English DTS:X, Spanish DTS 5.1, French DTS-HD High Resolution Audio 7.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
• Dynamics: First of all this is a comedy so you know what you’re getting here…plenty of dialogue moments.  However, this is also a Universal presentation so you’re also getting a DTS:X track to boot and holy hell if it doesn’t sound amazing!  You’re literally in the middle of everything and I was blown away by how much the surround and rear channels were utilized. heck even the height channels got a rise out of things.  With all this too you never miss a beat of dialogue.  It’s not an action blockbuster by any means, but for a comedy this was an incredibly dynamic track to have fun with.
• Height: The height channels here are obviously employed during the explosion scene, but more importantly used as an extra dimension for effects here with plenty of ambiance bleeding into them.
• Low Frequency Extension: Your subwoofer thumps and pumps from the jamming music housed within this motion picture whether we’re causing with Hart in his pimp car or crashing a prom.  Never once did I have any issues with the LFE channels being underutilized here.  Again for a comedy things sounded great and the subwoofer was there throughout to give everything little bit of gravity if you know what I mean.
• Surround Sound Presentation: I knew things were going o be punchy and dynamically pleasing because this one employs a DTS:X track, but what I didn’t know was how incredible and prominent the rear channels were going to be.  The score and soundtrack filled them like they were the fronts and effects utilized the rears to the fullest potential.  The biggest standout for me involving the rear channels is when Kevin Hart’s character attempts to answer questions whether math or whatever it is.  The subject matter jumps off the pages or chalkboards at him and the equations, problems, etc. all swish and revolve around him.  The rear channels render this screen effect perfectly and nails with both precision and discretions prioritization.
• Dialogue Reproduction: The dialogue always remains prominent, directional, loud, clear and intelligible throughout and ensures you never miss a joke or one-liner no matter how funny it is.

Extras 

The Night School 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set features the film in both its theatrical and extended cut versions on 1080p Blu-ray and 4K UHD Disc.  Extras include an alternate opening, deleted and extended scenes, an audio commentary, 2 gag reels and much more.  Also, two of the extras are even housed on the 4K UHD Disc.  In addition to all of this you can count on Universal providing you a redemption code for the digital version of the film to enjoy anywhere you please.  So let’s take a closer look down below of all the supplemental features you’ll find here and what disc to find them on.

Disc 1 – 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray:

• Gag Reel Extra Credit (HD, 5:17) – So yeah there’s a gag reel housed on the Blu-ray Disc, but this one here is the extra credit edition.  Here you’ll discover even more behind-the-scenes material.  Onscreen overlay graphics and text make this one fun and engaging.
• Audio Commentary – Here you have a feature length audio commentary with Director Malcolm D. Lee.  If you’re a fan of what you just watched, then you know you need to invest the time here.

Disc 2 – 1080 Blu-ray:

• Alternate Opening (HD, 6:29) – This one also contains optional Director commentary.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 13:27) – This one also contains optional Director commentary and a Play All option for the following 7 deleted scenes: Pluck Brow, Brick Wall, Border Crossing, Macs Wrestling, The Truth and Flash Cards.  I got to admit the Pluck Brow one should have stayed, but I digress.
• Gag Reel (HD, 11:04) – Here you have an extended montage of behind-the-scenes antics featuring the cast of Night School.
• Night School’s In Session (HD, 13:33) – This one introduces you to Kevin Hart’s motley crew of classmates featured in Night School.
• Who’s the Student? Who’s the Teacher? (HD, 2:33) – Make no mistake about it.  Fans were thrilled to see friends Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish starring in their first film together.  In this extra, the comedy duo give us the lowdown and their backstory on how they became ride-or-die friends more than a decade ago.
• Prom Night Revisited (HD, 3:07) – The prom is one of my most favorite sequences from the movie because of the energy involved.  In this extra you can take a trip down memory lane as the cast of Night School looks back at their own high school proms.  You’ll never guess who dressed up as a famous movie character and who never made it to the dance at all.
• Cap ‘n Gown ‘n Giggles (HD, 2:08) – Teddy may deliver a heartfelt graduation speech, but behind the scenes cast and crew were exploding with laughter as Kevin Hart’s speech turned into a full blown standup comedy show.  Check it all out in this extra!
• Making of the Dance Battle (HD, 3:45) – Here you can take a sneak peek into the dance rehearsal of the infamous prom night dance battle.  It shows you how bad of a dancer Kevin Hart really is.  Ha ha!
• Christian Chicken (HD, :40) – Check out this never before seen Christian Chicken commercial that was simply too delicious to air.  There’s even a Holy Watermelon Salad!
• Game Over (HD, 1:46) – In this extra you can watch as Kevin Hart joins castmates Yvonne Orji and Megalyn Echikunwoke to discuss the complicated relationship between Maya (Kevin Hart’s love interest in the film) and Teddy.
• Extended Performance “El Sueno” (HD, 2:40) – Every prom needs a hit song and this extended version of Luis’s original “El Sueno” is sure to make you swoon.  It really was the perfect way to cap off this energetic prom sequence.  I loved it!  Romany even raps in this one!
• Audio Commentary – Here you have a feature length audio commentary with Director Malcolm D. Lee.  I think it goes without sayin that if you’re a fan of what you just watched, then you know you need to invest the time here.

Summary 

There you have it folks.  Your mileage is definitely going to vary with Night School.  My film score is definitely amongst the most generous of reviews out there, but I really did have a great time with Night School.  I wouldn’t mislead you that way and I also can’t wait to watch it again one day despite the Pg-13 ratings.  It has heart and laughs.  Couple my love of the film with gorgeous looking video, a thumping DTS:X track and a generous helping of extras courtesy of Universal and you have yourself a recommended 4K product with my YMMV disclaimer.  And if you’re a Kevin Hart or Tiffany Haddish fan, this is a no-brainer purchase.  Enjoy!

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DISCLAIMER: This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review was judged and graded using the following 4K certified Ultra HD Premium television set found here and player here.  The above screenshots are not taken from he actual 4K product.  Make sure to check out all our 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews archived here.

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Night School

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4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

January 1st

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