Will Ferrell 's new comedy Get Hard has been branded both racist and homophobic by critics as it deals with a rich white man who is sent to the terrifying San Quentin prison for 10 years . Ferrell 's character approaches the only black man he knows , played by the comedian Kevin Hart , to help him prepare for life behind bars . The movie had its debut at the SXSW festival in Austin , Texas and is directed by Etan Cohen . Scroll down for video . Critics have branded Get Hard starring Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart as racist and homophobic . Will Ferrell plays James King , a one-percenter who is facing a 10-year jail term in San Quentin prison . Ferrell approaches Kevin Hart 's character for advice on how to get 'hard ' in advance of his prison committal . Several of those who watched the movie were disgusted by what they saw . One man addressing a question-and-answer session following the screening reportedly told Mr Cohen , who also wrote the film : 'As a fellow Jew , I 've got to say that this film seemed as racist as f*** . ' The movie is due for release on March 27 on both sides of the Atlantic . Mr Cohen responded that he had shown the film to a number of test audiences around the same time as black teenager Michael Brown was shot dead by a police . Mr Cohen defended his movie claiming the racial humor in the work was ' a delicate balance to find ... It was hard to modulate ... how far to push it . ' Ferrell plays James King , who is being jailed for ten years over dodgy financial dealings . Several critics blasted the movie over the stereotypical way it treated the various races behind bars . Others attacked the movie for the way it depicted gay sex and dealt with the issue of prison rape . King offers Hart 's character Darnell Lewis cash to open a new car wash business if he can teach him how to be tough before entering the prison . The film pokes fun at so-called one-percenters as well as the stereotypes of black men , latinos and white supremacists who are all behind bars . Justin Chang of Variety blasted the movie claiming it had 'some of the ugliest gay-panic humour to befoul a studio release in recent memory ' . In one scene , King tries to accost a gay man in a public toilet and offers to perform a sex act on him to prepare himself for life in prison . Drew McWeeny of Hitfix.com said the film was 'morally repellent ' by playing 'into this idea that gay sex is somehow inherently more disgusting than regular sex ' . Before the screening , Hart told people who enjoyed the movie to review it on Twitter afterwards , however , those who hated it should 'go in the middle of the street and kill yourself ' . Ferrell said he did not use Twitter and asked people to send him 'handwritten notes ... on nice stationery ' .
Hart plays a white financial guru who is jailed for 10 years for fraud . Kevin Will Ferrell plays the only black person Ferrell 's character knows . Ferrell approaches Will Ferrell for 'training ' on how to survive a prison term . Critics have blasted the movie for its racism and homophobia . Writer and director Etan Cohen defended the film saying it is a satire .