Kevin Hart has long been a stand-up playing comedic roles in movies, but his latest project for Netflix is trying hard to pull at your single parent heartstrings. Monday brought a trailer for Fatherhood, a Netflix drama arriving in time for Father’s Day that chronicles Hart’s character as he navigates life as a single father in Boston.
Based on a memoir by Matthew Logelin, the film details the long path of fatherhood taken by Hart’s character after his wife tragically dies a day after their daughter’s birth. There are some funny scenes previewed in the trailer — Hart punches a clown in a funhouse and talks graphically about baby poop after stumbling into a meeting for new mothers — but the movie is a drama at its core and the trailer is complete with touching moments of parental triumph meant to pull at your emotional heartstrings.
As Deadline noted, the Sony picture jumped to Netflix after previously having a a theatrical release date in April. Lil Rel Howery, Alfre Woodard, DeWanda Wise and Anthony Carrigan are also slated to star in the project. But all eyes are on Hart as he takes on a very serious role in a drama that’s certainly supposed to be more heartwarming than laugh out loud.
“I’m well aware of what my daughter doesn’t have,” Hart says to a stern nun lamenting his child’s lack of maternal role model at one point.
Fatherhood hits Netflix on June 18.