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    Movie Review

    An earnest Kevin Hart proves his worth in heartfelt Fatherhood

    Alex Bentley
    Jun 18, 2021 | 9:24 am
    An earnest Kevin Hart proves his worth in heartfelt Fatherhood
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    Of all the actors in Hollywood to make an earnest and heartfelt movie about being a single father, Kevin Hart is not the first name to come to mind. His movie career to this point has consisted of almost all comedies, where broad humor was the selling point, not emotional connection. He’s played well off of people like Dwayne Johnson, Ice Cube, and Will Ferrell, but hasn’t truly been asked to stretch his acting muscles beyond that.

     

    So it’s fair to be skeptical going in to the new Netflix movie, Fatherhood, where he stars as Matt, the single parent of Maddy (played for the majority of the film by Melody Hurd). The film, written and directed by Paul Weitz (About a Boy, In Good Company), gets right to the crux of the story, the death of Matt’s wife, Liz (Deborah Ayorinde), soon after the birth of Maddy.

     

    Both his mom (Thedra Porter) and Liz’s parents, Marion (Alfre Woodard) and Mike (Frankie Faison), are skeptical that Matt can care for Maddy on his own, urging him to move back to Minnesota from Boston. But Matt digs in because of his good tech job, his desire to keep Maddy close to her mom’s final resting place, and, most of all, because he wants to prove that he is capable of being a good father despite the obstacles in his way.

     

    In many other movies with a comedian as the star, making Matt a bumbling buffoon who made it through in spite of himself would be the order of the day. But in Fatherhood, which was co-written by Dana Stevens, sincerity is the goal at almost all times. Yes, he makes some odd decisions and plenty of mistakes, but the filmmakers treat the moments – and the audience – with respect, acknowledging the truth that being a parent is extremely difficult for even the most well-prepared people.

     

    Weitz and his team should also be commended for taking their time establishing the emotion of the film right up front, as the first 15 minutes of the movie tells the story of Liz’s death and funeral. It could be said that they wallow a bit in her absence, as it’s returned to repeatedly. But each time her passing does come up, the emotions they engender feel real and earned, and not just a manipulative tactic to bring tears. It also speaks to the reality of Matt and Maddy, or anyone who’s lost someone important, as the hurt doesn’t go away quickly, if ever.

     

    Contrary to how it may sound, though, the film does have a good amount of humor. Despite the fact that Hart mutes his normal over-the-top persona, he’s still very charismatic and is able to elicit smiles and chuckles at even 20 percent of his usual output. However, they might have thought better of the comic relief that Matt’s friends, Jordan (Lil Rel Howery) and Oscar (Anthony Carrigan), bring to the table. Each time they try to shoehorn in Jordan’s flirtatiousness or Oscar’s awkwardness, it breaks the spell of the rest of the film.

     

    Hart proves himself worthy of the dramatic part, and then some. He rarely strikes a false note, no doubt helped by the expertise of scene partners like Woodard and Faison. Hurd is quite the find, as she feels as authentic in the part as anyone could hope for. Also great are Ayorinde, who’s very touching in her brief scenes, and DeWanda Wise, who plays a compelling late-film love interest.

     

    Putting out Fatherhood on Father’s Day weekend is an obvious, but wise, move. If this was a test for Hart to try to transition into different types of movies, he passes with flying colors. And the film as a whole is a tribute to good parents; every kid should be blessed with parents who care as much as the ones shown here.

     

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    Fatherhood is streaming exclusively on Netflix.

    Kevin Hart and Melody Hurd in Fatherhood.

    Kevin Hart and Melody Hurd in Fatherhood
      
    Photo by Philippe Bosse/Netflix
    Kevin Hart and Melody Hurd in Fatherhood.
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    Movie Review

    Lazy 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' remake hooks nothing but nostalgia

    Alex Bentley
    Jul 17, 2025 | 1:45 pm
    Sarah Pidgeon, Madelyn Cline and Chase Sui Wonders in I Know What You Did Last Summer
    Photo by Brook Rushton
    Sarah Pidgeon, Madelyn Cline and Chase Sui Wonders in I Know What You Did Last Summer.

    When the original I Know What You Did Last Summer came out in 1997, it was riding the coattails of Scream, which came out in 1996. Like that film, it featured hot young actors of the time, albeit with a story that was much more standard than the inventive Scream. Still, it made enough of an impact for some studio executive to think it was worth reviving nearly 30 years later with its own legacy-quel.

    In the new I Know What You Did Last Summer, a group of five high school friends - Danica (Madelyn Cline), Ava (Chase Sui Wonders), Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), Teddy (Tyriq Withers), and Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon) - have reunited at the engagement party for Danica and Teddy on the 4th of July. While on an impromptu trip to watch fireworks on a twisty road in the nearby hills, Teddy goofs off in the middle of the road, causing a truck to swerve and drive off the cliff.

    A year later, having sworn to each other to not speak of the accident to anybody, they start getting stalked by a mysterious person in a fisherman’s slicker carrying a hook. With Teddy’s rich father, Grant (Billy Campbell), actively trying to cover up what his son did (as well as the fallout), it’s up to the group to figure out who is coming after them and how to stop that person.

    Written and directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, and co-written by Sam Lansky, the film doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel; in fact, it barely builds something that can roll. It might just be the laziest and most incompetent attempt to capitalize on an existing piece of intellectual property. There is almost zero effort put into establishing a connection between the members of the friend group, making them feel like strangers for the entire film.

    It doesn’t help that the young male actors in the film - which grows to include Wyatt (Joshua Orpin), a new fiance for Danica - serve no purpose other than to be generically good-looking. The most impactful of the men in the film is the returning Freddie Prinze, Jr., who - along with Jennifer Love Hewitt - has his old character from the first two films shoehorned into the new story. The filmmakers undercut any good feelings from their return by giving them hardly anything to do and then having Hewitt deliver the line, “Nostalgia is overrated.”

    The film as a whole never has a sense of momentum. The inciting incident is so tame - they even attempt to save the driver before the truck goes off the cliff - that the guilt they feel and the anger of the person going after them doesn’t feel warranted. Once the attacks start, it is shocking at how low-energy the sequences are, providing no sense of suspense or thrills. The filmmakers resort to the lamest of horror movie tropes, turning the film into a paint-by-numbers affair.

    Cline (one of the stars of Netflix’s Outer Banks) and Wonders (The Studio on Apple TV+, Bodies Bodies Bodies) are the clear stars of the film, but their characters are made into inert scream queens, negating any acting talent they possess. Hauer-King, Withers, and Pidgeon don’t bring anything interesting to their characters, existing merely to have someone else for the killer to go after.

    Even the worst films can have some kind of redeeming value if you look hard enough, but the only thing I Know What You Did Last Summer has to offer is that it becomes so comically bad by the end that you can’t help but laugh at its ineptitude. Both fans of the original and fans of horror movies in general will feel cheated by the experience.

    ---

    I Know What You Did Last Summer opens in theaters on July 18.

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