Fatherhood review

By Paul Anthony

When we hear Kevin Hart’s name, we know one thing and that one thing is, that the movie going to make you laugh. That statement seems to be true now for only 99 percent of his films. Over the weekend, we came across this movie fatherhood and watched it during our Father’s day weekend get away. Well we were expecting a funny movie but what we got was drama that Kevin Hart got to shine in and I must say he shine pretty damn good in. Like many films that were suppose to happen during the pandemic, this film was suppose to be released in early April of 2020 got pushed to April 2021 however it was delayed again but this time Netflix bought the rights and released it in time for Father’s Day which was perfect timing. Now the film itself was based on the 2011 memoir Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss and Love by Mathew Logelin, which in the film was played by Hart. The film also stars Alfre Woodard, Frankie R Faison, Lil Rey Howery, Dewanda Wise. Now this was suppose to be a Sony release until Netflix bought the rights. Now let’s take a look at the plot of the film.

The film first starts Matt (Hart) at a funeral and then a gathering at his place and you see clearly someone died that is affecting him but we don’t who just yet. Then it flashes back and we learn that Liz, his wife was the one who had passed away. She had to have an early C-section which then was followed by pulmonary embolism. The scene of them removing Matt is a heart breaking one because all he wants to do is to be by his wife’s side and then just as her parents come to celebrate the birth of their granddaughter, Matt has to tell them about the death of their daughter, which leaves everyone heart broken and now leaves Matt as a single father. At first the family wants him to move back home because they feel it would be good for the both of them but also they don’t think Matt is mature enough to raise a daughter on his own and so the adventure begins. We see at first he struggles with it, when she cries and he tries everything to make her stop. Even with changing her, he struggles with it and during her first appointment, he learns his hard work is paying off and he is doing right. 5 years go by and it time for Maddy to go to school and of course Matt raised her to be a Tom boy of sorts. So new challenges start with that and after so many years of being single Matt then starts to date again and falls for a woman named Liz who goes by the nickname Lizzie. Things are going great for them but Matt feels he can’t do both and realize he misses Liz even more. Not to mention his job wants him to travel, which means Maddy has to go live with her grandparents for awhile. Just when he is about to leave he realizes that he can’t leave his daughter and goes and gets her and even takes her over to see lizzie so they can all be reunited again.

Some of the best parts of this film was one the story seeing the struggle of being a single father in a way that was no fault of your own and most likely not being ready because you just lost your wife as well. The story was touching though, I would love to see more of the downs to drive the point of how hard it has to be as being a single parent. Kevin Hart is the star here and going away from his comedy style of acting was a risk but a risk that paid off big time for because now it’s clear as day that he can act in more serious roles and that is great for his career. I’m not saying this movie was perfect but it came close to it. The acting was on point, no one felt out of place, the plot was a tearjerker and a reality that a lot of people face. In the end I am giving this film an A or 95 percent because this film really did touch all the soft spots.

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