Fatherhood

For what feels like the first time, am I actually following the trends rather than writing about movies that are no longer relevant. Fatherhood is the new Kevin Hart movie starring…… Well, Kevin Hart for one, and some other people. But, I hear you ask, is it any good? Well, let’s find out. 

Let me first preference a couple of things. The first thing is that I am not the biggest fan of comedies and especially American comedy. There are only really a small handful of American comics that I find tolerable and Kevin Hart is not one of them. I can’t say that I really like any of his specials that much, and when he appears in movies the stick of being the short angry guy wears off quickly. I guess I am not a fan of his particular style of comedy. 

You might think that makes me ill-fitted to comment on a Kevin Hart work. This is idiotic for several reasons: 

The first is that if it were only fans of something or someone who was allowed to comment or critique then we would have no quality control. Everything would just get good reviews and no one would be willing to change their mind.

The second reason is that I believe it is important to be transparent about what I like and don’t like beforehand. I make my bias perfectly visible so that you can take it with a grain of salt. 

I also feel I can judge the work more as a whole by not being influenced by my blind love of Kevin Hart. 

Wait, was there a movie I should talk about? 

Fatherhood opens with a funeral; it is not clear who has died. The identity of the person is revealed a little later. It is always good to keep an audience guessing by asking a question “Who died?” and then instead of answering it straight away, the movie gives you time to ponder who it could be. 

Now if you read any plot summary anywhere you know it is about his wife and the mother of his child who has died, instantly killing the idea I was just talking about. So, yeah, his wife dies after giving birth to their child and now he is all alone and has to take care of the child himself. 

The movie is about how hard it is to be a single parent raising a kid all by himself. Throughout the movie the main guy, who I already forgot his name, just a second while I google it…… Matt. Matt brings himself down and keeps talking about how the kid would be better off if it was her mother who had lived and not him. He talks about how he is a failure and how he is a bad parent who has no idea what he is doing. The people around him then remind him how good he is and how hard he is trying and so on. He keeps bringing himself down, only to have others cheer him up. This happens the whole movie and it is super tedious. 

He has two friends whom both try so hard to be the “funny sidekick type” except, they are not funny, not even close. One of them is a guy named Oscar with no hair and no eyebrows. I don’t know if this is supposed to be a joke, in which case I don’t get it.

If there was one word I would describe this movie with it would be sabby. Everything, from the acting to the music is this over-sentimental bullshit. It is like we are never given room to feel, we are always told what to feel and this is a mistake for these kinds of films. The music and insert songs always try to convey this “FEEL SOMETHING NOW” kind of vibe and in turn, it has the opposite effect. 

He also argues with his mother-in-law all the time because of course, that is what you are supposed to do in these kinds of movies I guess.  

Matt also has a boss who delivers the only joke I found funny. He talks about how he has three babies and then it cuts to a wall with three pictures of emo kids and he says well, they are not babies anymore. The idea that all his kids grew up to be emo is an indication that he does not know what he is doing as a parent. 

Speaking of the boss has no idea what is going on. He tries to send Matt to Croatia for business. Matt then askes “Why don’t you send Oscar he speaks Croatian” the boss then says “he does? I don’t care, I am sending you” WHAT!?!!?!?!? WHY?!?!? The only reason he would send Matt is to force another stupid conflict, just like when he breaks up with his new girlfriend, who has the same fucking name as his dead wife. Can you tell I hate this movie? 

In conclusion! The movie tries so hard to be “feel good” that it kind of has the opposite effect. With excessive use of sabby music and acting. The comedy is not funny and everything else about the movie feels mundane and boring. I can not recommend this to anyone, but the biggest Kevin Hart fan.