Telling The Endearing Story A Young, Black, Married, Middle-Class Couple, A Male Black Tech-Exec, Heartache After Childbirth, And A Dedicated ‘Very Present’ Single Black Father, It Sends The Very Modern Message That To Some Men Fatherhood Seriously Matters. Including Black Men. And Lone Fathers of Daughters.
However, The Original Story Featured A White Man And His Wife. Matt Logelin Is Caucasion. His 2011 Memoir Was Born of His Blogs Following His Wife’s Untimely Death In 2008. But Just Like The Late Black Comedian Bernie Mac Headed Up A Predominantly Black Cast In The 2005 Version of The 1967 Film ‘Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner’, Taking On The Role of White Actor Spencer Tracey, With Ashston Kutchner Playing The Role of Black Actor Sidney Poitier, Kevin Hart Believed Logelin’s Story Was Universal And There Was No Reason Why A Black Man Could Not Play The Lead Role As A Matter of Principle.
Here In Britain, An Extraordinary Young British-Caribbean Man, Ahead of His Time, Also Had To Fight Against The Odds To Keep And Raise His Own 5 Young Children Himself As A Single Father After His Young Wife Died of Cancer In The 1950s. Just A Few Years Ago We Interviewed His Only Daughter After She Wrote A Book About The Amazing Job Her Father Did Raising Her And Her Four Brothers (Including Twins).
Kevin Hart Wins Our Hearts In This Touching Black Comedy Family Film Which Deals With A Newly-Wed Young Black Tech-Exec Suddenly, Tragically, Having To Raise His Newborn Alone Following His New Bride’s Death Shortly After Childbirth. On Top of His Loss He Finds Himself Having To Fight Against Strong Resistence From Others, Including Family Members, And Various Challenges Based On Assumptions.
Whilst Deeply Serious And Sad, Such Is Hart’s Comic Genius That He Manages To Deliver Pathos Amongst The Pain And Also Stir Sympathies As He Struggles To Love Again After Eventually Meeting A New Woman.
British Actor Deborah Ayorinde Plays Late Wife Liv. @itsdeborah Hart Is Convincing As The Devastated Husband And Shellshocked Father Who Is Still Grieving But Must Quickly Pull Himself Together And Look After His Baby Daughter. @kevinhart4real
Here Hart Reigns Himself In Just Enough And Yet Remains True To His Uniquely Talented, High Energy, Superfit, Compact, Dynamic, Handsome Self In Terms of His Comedic OTT Delivery & Style. In Doing So He Convinces Us That He Is A Leading Man Navigating The Impossibly Cruel Combination of Joy And Pain That Fate Has Dealt Him After Losing A Wife And Gaining Child. A Who Needs Him Now. Pure And Simple. So We Can’t Help Routing For Him. We Can See And Sense, Knowing This Comedian As We Do, That He’s Taken The Time To Workout, Eke Out And Deliver A New, Different, Even Higher Level of His Best Acting Self Because This Is A Movie He Clearly Cares About.
Baby Poo Jokes Are Somewhat Inevitabe As Crazy Pooing Is One of The Things Babies Are Notorious For Doing. Classic Hart-Esque Humour With Classic Hart-Style Delivery, Smartly Manages Not To Go Too Far Nor Go Too Often. Loving The (Ironic) Tip For The Roses!
Numerous Actors (Male & Female) Have Done The ‘Look At Me, I’m So Good Looking I’m Making A Movie’ Type Project, Largely There Just For Their Looks And Self-Promotion (Backed By Talent Management Team Behind Them). But Doing That They Expose A Lack of Genuine Connection To The Movie They’re In And The Story It’s Supposed To Be Telling. We Mention No Names of Course But Instead Simply Observe That Some Grow Out of That And Some Don’t. But That’s Not What’s Going On Here With Kevin Hart. His Heart Is All In. That’s Why He Operates Dynamically On Different Levels In This Film And It Works For Him And Overall.
We Can See And Feel The Different Levels Because A Conscious Effort Has Clearly Been Made To Convincingly Portray Hart In A More Mature And Sympathetic Way With Universal Way. Particularly Clever Is The Fact That There Are Two New Females Suddenly In His Life And Each Require His Attention. In Very Different Ways. It’s A Big Challenge.The Question Is Can He Find It Within His Heart, Soul, Professional Life, Extended Family And Social Circle To Give Each of Them What They Need And In A Way That Also Works For Him?
The Ever Brilliant Veteran Actress Alfre Woodward Plays His Mother-In-Law. Her Presence Adds A Reassuring Kudos To The Fillm, As Well As A Certain Calmness, Sensibility And A Pair of Safe Hands. Literally As Far As The Baby’s Concerned.
Then There’s His Best Friend Who Refers To The Grieving Husband’s Mother-In-Law As A GILF (Grandmother I’d Like To Fxxk) No Age Discrimination Here! She of Course Ignores Him. Not Least of All Because She’s Married; She And Her Husband (Not Hart’s Father) Dote On The New Grand Kid.
A Big Shout-Out Has To Go To The Little Lady Herself Who Plays Hart’s Daughter After Hart Does In fact Get Her Through The Baby Years. She Has A Chemistry With Her Screen Father Which Is Self-Evident, She Delivers Her Lines Like A Little Hollywood Acting Expert And She Has Amazing Comic Timing, Which Is Amazing For One So Tiny, Young And Innocent. Hart’s Happy Heart Is Plain To See, It’s Clear The Chemistry Is Genuine And He Reports That When The Casting Team First Met Melody Hurd They Knew She Was The One To Play The Role of Daddy’s Girl. In Fact She Reports That Hart Reminds Her of Her Real Life Father Who Is Apparently Funny Too.
@realalfrewoodward @faison.frankie @kevinhart4real With Little ‘Big Talent’ Melody Hurd: Fatherhood, Seems Destined To Become A Holiday Classic. [Originally Released In Time For Father’s Day June 2021]. Broadcast Channel Four, 1.am, Wednesday Night April 23rd 2025 (Easter Holidays).
Based On The True Story of Logelin It Also Brings To Mind The Real Life Story of Codrington Walcott, A Former British-Caribbean Navy Man of The Windrush Generation Who Raised Four Sons And A Daughter Alone After Losing His Young Wife To Cancer In 1950s Britain. [TO.P June 2022 ]
Fatherhood’s Strength Is That It Challenges Stereotypes. This Is So Important. Because Negative Narratives Can Have Serious Consequences And Cumulative Effects. For Instance We Will Never Forget That An American Re-Trumplican Politician Who Actually Said That Black Lives Matter Don’t Care For Traditional Families. He Was Duly Lambasted For This Falsehood.
It’s A Painful Irony That Slavery Facilitated The Stealing of Black Babies Destined For Rich White Plantation Owners (Often Later To Work There, Or Be Play Things For The Wives, Or The Slaver Family’s Children). Black Babies Were Ripped From Their Screaming Mother’s Arms As Some Hateful White People Supported By A Hateful Legal System – Separated Enslaved Black Women From Their Children, Their Husbands, The Fathers of Those Children – Thereby Destroying Black Lives And Black Families Forever. Then A Re-Trumplican White Supremacist Has The Gaul To Claim On The Sentate Floor That ‘Black Lives Matter’ Have No Regard For Families.
Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett Immediately Dealt With Sentator Glen Grothman After His Hateful False Comments. @stacey_plaskett Married To Jonathan Buckney-Small
Also Unforgettable Is The Late Great Actor Cicely Tyson Who Explained That A White Woman Confessed To Her That Before Seeing The 1972 Multi-Oscar Nominated Film ‘Sounder’ She Never Knew Black People Can Love Each Other Just Like White People Can. That Level of Ignorance Is Woeful. And Dangerous. And Also Highlights Why Informative, Authentic And Inclusive Filmmaking Is Important.
Hart In ‘Fatherhood’ Depicts A Beautiful Black Marriage, Parenting Within A Middle-Class Black Family, Support From Other Family Members, A Successful Black Tech Exec, Social And Professional Other Friends And Allies, And In So Doing Helps Knock Down Twisted Ignorance And Steretypes. And We Thank Him For It.
You Just Have To Do What’s Best For Her.
For The Rest of Your Life.
I Believe You Can Do That.
A Mother Advises Her Son What He Has To Do To Successfully Bring Up His New Baby Girl After He And Daughter Lose The Young Wife And New Mother Just Hours After Childbirth In Hosptial.
Fatherhood (2021) Streaming On Netflix
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