Kevin Hart has come so far since last summer, at least on screen. Circa June of 2021, he was adrift on a paternal sea in Netflix’s Fatherhood, which cast the embattled comedian as a suddenly single dad figuring out child-rearing in his own imperfect yet well-meaning way. One year later, and he’s got the Mr Mom thing down in Me Time, the latest and perhaps least dire of Hart’s low-floored streaming era. As put-upon house-husband Sonny Fisher, he does it all in a day’s work: whip up school lunches so clever and picturesque he can brag-post them to Instagram; co-direct his kids’ class talent show with a Fosse-esque iron fist; pop by a science classroom for a quick PTA presentation on the health benefits of getting plant-based milks in the cafeteria. He’s at peace with his dutiful beta-male status while high-powered architect Maya (Regina Hall) is off winning the bread – or so he says.
One ka-razy weekend with an old pal (Mark Wahlberg, set to “affable”) will reacquaint the neutered Sonny with the dormant “big dog” inside, showing him just how benumbed he’s become to life. And of course things will spin out of control, leaving him a changed man and viewers with a confused takeaway on the balance between family obligation and self-actualization. Just as the offspring-friendly primary-colored aesthetic that looks like a PG comedy can clash against the R-rated humor, the image of Hart as super-parent contradicts the evident longing for something else. This muddled, anxious perspective on manhood distracts from a respectable percentage of effective comedic bits courtesy of writer-director John Hamburg (of I Love You, Man fame and, more pertinently, Hart’s co-writer on 2017’s Night School). Invariably, the laughs are cut short by another idle thought about how strange it is that Hart can manage to come off as both sanctimonious and aggrieved at the same time.
