Mark Reviews Movies: FATHERHOOD

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Review by Mark Dujsik | June 17, 2021

There's a lot left unspoken in Fatherhood, because there simply isn't the time or the opportunity to talk about it. This is the story of a man, a husband and an expectant father, who suddenly and without warning becomes a widower and a single parent. The latter description—his role as a father—is the only one that matters from that point forward.

The wise thing about Dana Stevens and director Paul Weitz's screenplay is how much is left unsaid, undiscussed, and unconsidered. Can Matt (Kevin Hart) raise his daughter on his own? Of course, he can, but what does that mean for him now? What will it mean for him in the future?

Those questions, along with several others, arise as this story progresses, watching Matt tend to his baby daughter's every need and later raising a young girl, but he doesn't have the ability to answer them. His baby girl needs to be fed, to have her diaper changed, to sleep, to wake up and cry in the middle of the night, and to be loved unconditionally at every single moment of her new life. Matt needs to provide all of that at any given moment. As for the love part, he needs to provide enough for the mother the girl will never know.

All of these points are mostly generalities, but the reason this film works mostly has to do with how specific it is in terms of Matt as a character, as well as the easy charm and emotional vulnerability of Hart's performance. This material, based on Matt Logelin's memoir Two Kisses for Maddy, could have painted the character in broad strokes—with a saint's patience and kindness and selflessness.

Instead, though, he's frustrated and annoyed, although never about or toward his daughter, because such a thing would be to admit failure. That's the one thing he can never bring himself to admit, because that pride is the trait that takes this story in the direction it ultimately heads.

Weitz opens the story with a back-and-forth timeline, going from the funeral for Matt's wife Liz (Deborah Ayorinde) and to the excited anxiety of the days before a scheduled C-section, the birth, the joy (and occasional irritation) of family coming together, and an abrupt medical emergency. By the end of the cross-cutting, Matt is wheeled out of the hospital, surrounded by family, and left speechless giving a eulogy, because his daughter is crying among the congregation.

There's some keen honesty to this section, which shows the rush and shock and emotional dissonance of everything that happens in simply a matter of days. Matt can't process this grief, partly because he won't allow himself to do so and partly because there just isn't a chance to. At a memorial at the house that's now his and his daughter's, he walks among the mourners in a daze, only momentarily distracted by annoyance with his best friends Jordan (Lil Rel Howery) and Oscar (Anthony Carrigan), who attempt to offer hollow support, and with his mother-in-law Marian (Alfre Woodard), who can't stop talking about how such an irresponsible man can't possibly raise a child on his own.

That's when the pride takes over, and the rest of the story, which follows about a year in the baby's life and then jumps forward to Maddy (Melody Hurd) as school-aged kid, is all about Matt trying to prove to himself, his late wife, and all of the naysayers that he can do this entirely on his own. The cost to himself and his own life doesn't matter, because that's what a parent is supposed to do and how one is supposed to think. He doesn't consider how this decision might affect Maddy down the line, though, because, just like his own grief, Matt doesn't have the luxury of processing such notions.

The result is a sweet and tender, charming and funny, and sad and surprisingly thoughtful tale about the many rewards and multiple, unexpected difficulties of parenthood—and especially being a single parent. The first act is devoted to a lot of familiar scenarios and gags, such as Matt being ill-prepared for mechanics of caring for a baby (some gross—but completely natural—stuff involving diapers and some bickering about how to attach a car seat), trying to juggle being a new father and having a career (Paul Reiser is amusing as Matt's absent-minded but basically sympathetic boss), and some arguments with Marian about moving from Boston back home to Minnesota, where she and Matt's own mother (played by Thedra Porter) can help him.

By the end of all the shenanigans and debates, Matt decides to create a physical emotional bubble for himself and Maddy. With the baby now a little girl, that's when things become even more complicated.

That bubble and its effects, both on the father and daughter, that take focus, as Matt tries for romance for the first time since his wife died with Lizzie (DeWanda Wise) and Maddy realizes how few "other people" she has in her own life. All of these new issues come as a complete surprise to Matt, because his life has only been about being a father for so long that he hasn't thought about what he or, ironically, his daughter truly want and need.

There's some hard wisdom in this film, and it could have been overlooked or evaded, in order to tell some generically comical or inspirational story. Fatherhood doesn't look away from it, though, because being a parent also means not having the luxury to look away.

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