initially i refused to watch fatherhood i have a rule that unless there's a very good reason
for it i will not watch a film that sounds like it's going to make me cry i do not like emotional
films because i watch films to escape reality rather than being reminded that life is difficult
but finally i just decided let's go for it and i'm so glad that i did this film is
incredible and one of the most powerful films i've seen not just of this year but in a long time
this was actually released this year in 2021 released on netflix directed by paul white
and stars kevin hart is our protagonist matt and unfortunately matt's wife
dies not in childbirth um but i think the day after their young daughter is born and to begin
with it's all about matt spending time with maddie the baby's uh grandparents actually and
you know trying to cope with being a new father while grieving for the loss of his wife
and right up until maddie is a toddler it's pretty depressing i i'd say the film's an hour and 50
minutes i just off the top of my head i'd say the first maybe 40 minutes takes us up until she's a
toddler but then we have maddie as a young child of school age played by mel melody heard and she
is ridiculous she is amazing her performance was fantastic she was thoroughly enjoyable full of
sass you know her comedic timing was perfection her movement was brilliant i just found her so
encapsulating absolutely fantastic um captivating is the word i was looking for and
i'm not saying that it stops being emotional once the child is older but the comedy does come into
it there and most of the comedy does come from maddie and as i said melody hurts comedic timing
is absolutely fantastic her on-screen rapport with kevin hart is just brilliant and an absolute joy
to watch but there are times when both maddie and matt are reminded of this absence of liz
um matty's mother and it does make you kind of choke off a bit and it's real it is one of the
most real films i've ever seen and i won't spoil it but matt makes a decision for maddie's benefit
that's not something i had expected from this film and it involves an opportunity he has with work
and i can't say any more than that it happens quite late on in the film but i hadn't expected
that but it's so realistic and happens a lot with single parents having to juggle everything in
their life and this is definitely one of the most realistic interpretations of single parenthood i
have ever seen in any film ever and i just feel like kevin hart does an absolutely fantastic job
of delivering this utterly emotional roller coaster ride
and maddie as a character is so easy to like she's so likable but she's real as well
you know there's just one point where she says she doesn't want to meet anybody you that day
even though her father had said they were going to meet somebody new you
know she's not this perfect little angel she's very realistic she's very sassy
but she's also looking for this mother that she doesn't have and it's just an absolute journey
and an absolute honor to watch this it is one of the most beautiful creations i've ever seen
because of how honest it is and how real it is it's the perfect blend of humor
and reality um well there is humor in reality but of the emotions that we can't escape in reality
there are some really fantastic scenes that are just designed for comedic relief and there are
scenes that are designed to be heartfelt and then there are those that carry both because sometimes
you can have negative emotions betwixt humor as well because humor is what makes us get through
the dark times and i just think it blends everything together perfectly it is moving
poignant powerful fantastically performed very well written i'm so glad i finally found that i
was in the right headspace to watch this without just crying all the way through it it's absolutely
beautiful i'm glad i gave it a chance fatherhood is one of the most powerful films this year