Me Time is a bromantic cringe-fest propelled by Kevin Hart

Is it just me or is the quick-and-dirty jock comedy the second worst thing in life right now after the Bollywood action thriller? You know you’re in comedy hell when your lead character wrestles with a mountain lion, projectile-pukes during a montage for fun, gets caught masturbating by his kids, takes a dump on someone’s bed, semi-kills a giant tortoise, farts in an empty room that’s not actually empty and, most of all, sings with Seal during a birthday bash. Kevin Hart is that lead character here – and he is the lead culprit in a movie that doesn’t know whether it’s a quirky interracial buddy dramedy, a crude coming-of-age tale about a man going through a midlife crisis, a rakish night-gone-wrong ride or just a random mash-up of the dumbest tropes across genres. The makers will have you believe that this is the sort of trash that’s supposed to be farcical, but that’s like a serial killer wanting you to believe that they’re only steeling you up for the next Human Centipede flick. Several cheap thrills jostle for space in Me Time. An over-committed homemaker named Sonny (Hart) takes a break from his overbearing ways and attends the 42nd birthday bash of his wild childhood pal Huck ( Mark Wahlberg ), a hard-living bachelor who considers pre-Amal George Clooney his idol. Sonny remembers why Huck and him were once best friends, loosens up a little, has a reckless night, gets jealous about his wife’s hunky client, reaches the brink of losing his family, blames Huck for his bad influence but then for some reason becomes that dad who apologizes to his son during a talent contest on stage before winning Huck back. What did I miss? What’s the tonal endgame? A potentially progressive and irreverent formula story is reduced to a series of garbled existential tropes. A beta- male and satisfied stay-at-home dad in support of a successful architect wife deserves more than the Hart brand of B-movie humour. The film also takes the moral high-ground in how it eventually reveals Huck as a lost adult with no job and a serious spending problem. Sonny turns to him to remember what a good time looks like, but eventually ends up lecturing Huck about his life. Just once, I’d like to see the reverse happen. (My mini-meltdown can be attributed to how I grew up wanting a nice stable family like Sonny but grew into a Huck-like presence in many a married friend’s life – minus the partying and spending problem of course). I like what Wahlberg brings to the role; he plays Huck as one of those oblivious men-children who’re far fonder of their friends than their friends are of them. Given that Entourage was based entirely on his early days in Hollywood, his Huck looks oddly genuine. Unfortunately, the two actors share as much chemistry as the clumsy mountain lion does with the visual effects guys who created it. A lot of Hart’s recent Netflix outings – where he plays good and awkward American everymen who feel too much – seem to be designed as overcompensation for his embattled stand-up image. Netflix might have bought into this low-stakes no-harm-no-foul acting career, but I can imagine viewers finding it increasingly difficult to buy into such reactionary content. John Hamburg has directed some affable lowest-common-denominator comedies like I Love You, Man and Along Came Polly – not to mention he’s written that all-time classic, Meet The Parents – which is why it’s more than strange to see him mess up the basic narrative grammar of a movie like Me Time. He does have a penchant for subversive central themes (remember Ben Stiller as a “male nurse”?), but in 2022, it feels like a gimmick especially in terms of a film that wants to be funny, emotional, neither and both. Towards the end of Me Time, I found myself wondering what Regina Hall must feel like – as a career-forward female character who feels guilty for being a neglectful mother in a movie about two men who’re struggling to make peace with their own lack of agency. Me Time has no time for her – or for anyone who doesn’t dare to be part of a guileless bromance between a mountain lion and Kevin Hart. 1 (out of 5) stars

Rahul Desai is a film critic and programmer, who spends his spare time travelling to all the places from the movies he writes about. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .