‘A good road to go down'

Comedian Kevin Hart is all smiles. Although he's small in stature, his presence — and excitement about his projects — is not.

The reason for his cheer? The Five-Year Engagement, a film in which he co-stars with Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival's opening night. He's also celebrating the release and good reviews of his other new film, Think Like a Man, which is based on Steve Harvey's best-seller Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. "This is my first solid, good movie," Hart says of the latter in a comment that is part jest, part seriousness.

"I've been part of a lot of movies, and I can't say that I have tons of good movies under my belt. I'm about 20 movies in the can, but this is just a good film."

Now, on the cusp of what could be his breakthrough into the mainstream romantic-comedy milieu, Hart spoke about his foray into romantic comedies.

In Five-Year Engagement, you play Doug, a PhD student. Was playing a student a stretch for you?

Yes. I am a product of a two-week community college education. So my college experience is very minimal. [To play] Doug, I had to do some research. I had to study to get my terms and verbiage down. I wanted to come off educated. Not only was Doug smart and intelligent, but he believes in his theories and his studies. I didn't want to come off as Kevin Hart, the silly guy with so much energy.

Think Like a Man has received a lot of mainstream promotion from networks that don't always promote movies with all-black casts. Why do you think that is?

Think Like a Man is not a black movie. It has a black cast, but it's not a black movie. Black people aren't the only people that are going to go see this film and relate to it and enjoy it. It's not full of black stereotypes, themes and only things that black people know about. It's a universal film. I really think that when it comes to the realm of black film, we're trying to take that stereotype and throw it in the can.

Five-Year Engagement and Think Like a Man are both romantic comedies. Is that Kevin Hart's new thing? Can we expect more of that from you?

Yes, we have some ideas on the table that are in the romantic-comedy realm. When I look at the success of comedians that I looked up to in the past, the romantic comedies that they've done are huge. Look at Eddie Murphy and Boomerang. Look at Martin Lawrence and A Thin Line Between Love and Hate. That road is a good road to go down, because you can appeal to everyone, and by that I mean, women will go see it but men will still root for you.

— Washington Post