The Beguiled

HOT on the heels of CHiPS comes another pointless 70s remake.

In the 1971 drama The Beguiled, Clint Eastwood’s injured soldier sat out the Civil War in a girls’ boarding school where his bed-hopping antics whipped the womenfolk into a frenzy of violent revenge.

It was pulpy, ridiculous, entertaining and as 70s as a Berni Inn dessert menu.

To update it for the 2017 arthouse crowd, Sofia Coppola has retold the story from the women’s perspective. Now Colin Farrell’s soldier is a conniving coward and Nicole Kidman’s headmistress a steely matriarch.

It’s nicely shot, well-acted and, despite the culling of all the black characters, mostly politically correct.

It’s also rather dull. With nobody to root for, there is virtually no drama. The comedy is a bit underwhelming too. Most of the scenes seem to be aiming at broad laughs as the bored women compete for the handsome stranger’s affections.

The closest thing to a killer line is a double entendre about Elle Fanning’s “apple pie”. Coppola may be the darling of Cannes but she’s no Frankie Howerd. HE’S one the world’s hottest stand-ups and pint-sized Kevin Hart is on his way to becoming one of the biggest movie stars.

The 5ft 4in funnyman has starred alongside Will Ferrell in Get Hard, Ice Cube in Ride Along and Josh Gad in The Wedding Ringer.

Later this year he will be reunited with his Central Intelligence co-star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in Jumanji.

Before that we will see him forging a new double act with Olympic champion Usain Bolt in a challenge presented by PokerStars.

Dubbed a showdown between the world’s fastest and funniest men, the pair are locked in a battle of wits on Twitter, under the #GameOn hashtag.

Their rivalry will culminate in a live face-to-face battle at the poker table in January during PokerStars Championship Bahamas.

Kevin took time out to tell me about his busy year…

Q: You’ve got a lot going on. How do find the time?