Fatherhood: It's no secret that Fatherhood is designed to be an over-the-top sentimental tearjerker about the difficulties of single parenthood-particularly as a widow-told from the underrepresented perspective of a father. While its generic structure and reliance on big soap opera crescendos to sell the emotional moments certainly evoke some eye rolls, the pure love behind its messaging and Kevin Hart's strong performance as the man trying to figure out how to grieve the death of his wife and raise his daughter make its heavy-handed melodrama work more often than not.
Grade: B-
Good on Paper: Veteran stand-up comedian Iliza Shlesinger's latest attempt to transition into the world of acting is a complete non-starter. This semi-autobiographical comedy based on a popular bit she did about a man (Ryan Hansen-whose subtle sleaziness/sociopathy makes him the clear MVP here) she dated earlier in her career proving to not be who he says he is isn't clever, shocking or interesting enough to justify a feature-length treatment and both Shlesinger and Margret Cho-who portrays her bar owner best friend-have a stiffness on screen that is the complete antithesis of the towering presences they are when they take the stage to do comedy.
Grade: C-
The Ice Road: Not since The Hurricane Heist has shoddy, cheap filmmaking been so fun. The Ice Road sees a band of actors (Liam Nesson, Amber Midthunder, Benjamin Walker, Laurence Fishburne, Holt McCallany) that are far too good to be appearing in a high-end VOD production like this being handed aggressively stupid material that is delivered with a completely straight face then thrown into assorted cold weather disaster situations that heavily rely on CGI that wouldn't have passed as acceptable in 1991, let alone 2021. Any fan of rampant filmmaking ineptitude and non-stop preposterous plot developments should sit down and bask in The Ice Road's unintended idiotic glory ASAP.
Grade: B-
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