Fatherhood
starring Kevin Hart, Melody Hurd, Alfre Woodard, Lil Rel Howery, Dewanda Wise, Anthony Carrigan, Frankie R. Faison and Paul Reiser
screenplay by Paul Weitz and Dana Stevens
directed by Paul Weitz
Rating: ♦♦♦♦◊
I was attracted to this 2021 family comedy-drama because I saw an advertisement for it on the internet. I thought, “I like Kevin Hart. I like family comedies.” So, I watched it. Fatherhood is based on the 2011 memoir Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss and Love (Grand Central Publishing, 2011) by Matthew Logelin.
Matthew Logelin (Hart) loses his wife, Liz, to a pulmonary embolism soon after the birth of their daughter, Maddy. Matthew is all messed up with a baby to take care of. And, after that, a daughter to raise. His family doesn’t think he’s up to it - especially his mother-in-law - so he quickly comes under pressure to move back home so that she can care for Maddy. But Matthew does it. He rises to the job. Fortunately, as a computer engineer, he has some freedom to work from home, and a boss (Paul Reiser) who indulges him. His clients are understanding and even admiring.
At first, we meet Matthew in the hospital with his wife, Liz. Then we see him at his home after the funeral. When his mother and in-laws leave, he is left on his own to care for a baby. Quickly, Maddy is five years old and enrolling in a private school. Along the way, we witness the drama and the comedy of Matthew and his daughter. The film tells the story of all the funny things that go on with an inexperienced, unprepared single father caring for a baby girl. The clumsy-men-with-children formula is a familiar one: Rock-A-Bye Baby (1958), Family Affair (1966 - 1971), Three Men and a Baby (1987), Look Who’s Talking (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), The Pacifier (2005), and more. Dozens more, actually.