The reviews of Me Time are terrible; that’s not surprising. It has the same beat as other Netflix comedies, and it doesn’t bring anything unique to the table. However, when such moments arrive, one should pay attention to a well-known person in popular criticism – Roger Ebert once said:
The point is: critics have to watch films while audiences choose to do it. That is why there are bad reviews about Kevin Hart’s movies by most of the critics who would never willingly go for a movie with him; but someone who can even see some of his film might actually enjoy Me Time. Surprisingly, he does meet both expectations.
Hart plays Sonny Fisher in Me Time, which portrays a dedicated work-at-home father in the most extreme way possible. Sonny starts off his day as if he were an omnipotent parent by making breakfast for his children before they go to school, then helps them during their performances and talent shows plus leads PTA meetings at school and volunteers at the same institution throughout so that after school hours he comes back home and takes care of their hobbies and homework too. He is just dependent on his children beyond everything else.
On the contrary, Maya (an underplayed Regina Hall brilliantly hilarious in her forthcoming Honk For Jesus) lives differently from her husband. An up-and-coming architect with an adoring boss, Maya is a typical breadwinner but completely ignores her own children because she cannot remember which language they have been learning all this while—it’s Mandarin! Realizing how much they have exaggerated things for themselves as parents, Maya decided she was going to take their kids away for spring break while letting Sonny be alone for some ‘me time’ throughout that week.
Sonny gets together with his childhood buddy who shares an interesting name called Huck Dembo (goofy Mark Wahlberg), a hunky man without any brains and fears aging like hell. Huck throws a party every year for his birthday as if it were some Kanye West album release; Sonny meets him near a party bus with Huck’s body painted across the side.
He takes Sonny and a bunch of much younger people with him into the desert to “go primal,” sparing no expense in doing so, even when he should have. The presence of a raw oyster bar in the desert is strange enough, but Huck has been spending money he does not have and is now fifty thousand dollars indebted to Stan (Jimmy O. Yang, probably the funniest part of this movie) and his Israeli bodyguard. By midnight, Sonny and Huck will show themselves to be far more juvenile than this father-of-the-year expects.
At the same time, her career is chasing after her instead of Maya trying to catch up on some time spent with children hence putting this break from parenting status quo at stake. This kind of living arrangement that appears half-progressive for Sonny and Maya (whereby husband packs lunchboxes and hosts PTA meetings while wife builds her career) seems like another element in Hart’s rebranding efforts started back in 2017.
Hart, an outgoing stand-up comedian and actor with solid delivery, went through a couple bad years — he lived through a terrible car wreck; TMZ published a sex tape in which he was caught on cheating his wife, and the woman involved sued him for $60 million; and of course, he got dumped by the Academy Awards.
Hart’s agents watched Fatherhood come when Hart was accused of homophobia and transphobia (and instead of just seeking some “me time”), replacing Channing Tatum with him – as a father who tries to make sense of his gender non-conforming daughter. This built on Hart’s earlier softer turn in The Upside where essentially cheered up Bryan Cranston for two hours. Hart made DC’s League of Super-Pets children’s film, then he is here pretty much playing super-dad.
The movie feels oddly woke at times almost as if Hart’s affirmative make-over had seeped into the script. Instead of just having obligatory, check-boxing gay and lesbian friends there is a scene wherein she asks him almost rhetorically,” Do I have penis?” And Sonny responds something like this “No you don’t have it but in life if you chose or one day wanted it you could get it.” These moments reek of forced inclusion mandated during focus groups so that such requirements should provide fodder for Hart’s gentler reputation rather than serve as comedic elements really coming from the funny bone.
However, Me Time does have some humor in it arguably more than either Fatherhood or Netflix original movies such as The Man From Toronto. Whatever may have been said or done about Hart before doesn’t take away from the fact that he has an amazing comic energy all his own and is just plain awesome at slapstick comedy. It could be his trademark yelp or small frame; it could be those elastic facial expressions or even his sheer athletic ability; but somehow hart manages to remain one of the current kings of pratfalls, only perhaps second to Melissa McCarthy. For this reason, the slapstick comedy in Me Time is frequently hilarious and even if it gets silly as possible still meets the practically algorithmic demands of ‘a Kevin Hart genre comedy.’
The same could be said of the rest of the cast which shoulders a lot for him throughout this movie. Regina Hall is a highly underrated comedic actress who once again has very little in Me Time to work with but does much with what she has got. The aforementioned Yang is golden as the Hongkongese American Jewish convert, dressed in full prep regalia and extremely tactful when preparing to enact mafia violence. Yes, like many things in Me Time, his character seems lifted in from a better movie (in this case, Ken Jeong’s drug lord in The Hangover films), but he’s just perfect in the part and, after Space Force and Love Hard, is a talent to watch.
Andrew Santino also does great comical acting for most parts of this film as that kind of trash-talking dad who sneaks out at night to party but keeps quiet when his wife’s around. This role sees Wahlberg turn on some puppy dog charm where he’s just a big dork who never grew up and now his immaturity is catching up to him. He is actually quite a tragic figure – one in desperate need of parenting himself and could have been at the center of an even darker sadder comedy than this one.
Me Time Instead, typically is polished and efficient Netflix film, especially for those who are fans of Hart or just want to snack on something light. Being as always rapid and smooth in the writing/direction for John Hamburg (writer of Meet the Parents, director of Along Came Polly), he spends a few hours that should probably feel longer than they do-because there isn’t much plot going on. In conclusion however, he guides the movie to an overly emotional, senselessly sentimental finale that’s too ridiculously cliché to be sweet or heartwarming.
In essence Me Time is any Kevin Hart fan’s dream come true. This means if his fans are looking for an insubstantial light and fluffy piece that does not require thinking then they will go for this flick. It can be assumed that no one would want a top-ten-list piece of cinematic art with this film in mind; neither did they get it right. However Me Time won’t make any converts out of new fans (his stand-up comedy specials might be more effective at that) but it should entertain those already initiated or at least let them pass time until Hart finally hosts the Oscars.
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