Me Time Movie Review: A Comedy Flop Despite Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg's Genius

There is a movie that dropped on Netflix in August called, Me Time. It stars Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg, and while I had high hopes that the movie might be promising, it was unparalleled in its failure to please. The last few films that Kevin Hart did (The Man From Toronto, Fatherhood, and Jumanji), were all fantastic. Each film was well-scripted, had notable acting, and had solid direction. But Me Time, I mean, the best thing I can say about this movie is that it made me want to see Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg make any other film together that didn't just suck so, so badly.       

          Mark Wahlberg is an interesting actor. In a sense, he plays the same character repeatedly, despite how different the script of each movie is from his last. Mark Wahlberg is a risk-taker, which often works well for him, and his films. He has excellent timing unless otherwise directed, with phenomenal comedic and dramatic delivery. I can’t think of too many, if any of his movies that I didn’t enjoy (except maybe, The Happening). And if you haven’t seen Rockstar, you should see Rockstar. The film might be my favorite of Mark Wahlberg's films. Mark Wahlberg’s comedies, especially when he’s working with someone, he has real chemistry with an actor that he can have an excellent back-and-forth with, he is capable of rivaling even the best comedic performances.

          Kevin Hart is a very different kind of person than Mark Wahlberg, although he, too, plays similar characters in each movie, most of which translate well from one movie to the next. The pair seem to have fundamentally similar acting styles, but because of their different personalities, they come across differently on screen. Kevin Hart has real, comedic genius, and his timing, like Wahlberg's, is spot on. Hart has a way of putting himself out there without holding anything back. That’s refreshing for a human being, but especially an actor in this day and age. So, of course, when I learned that they were doing a movie together, I was looking forward to that release date.

Me Time was awful. The movie was terrible. And, unfortunately for me, when I’m watching a movie, and it’s just so bad, I’m incapable of turning it off. Instead, I focus on what makes the particular movie so abominable. I’ll sit there with the movie squawking in the background while I research the film and the making of the film, hoping to find some explanation for why something so terrible was allowed to be made. During my research, I learned that John Hamburg directed the film, and reviewing his other movies it became clear to me that Hamburg is one of the worst and most overrated living directors of ours or any generation.

John Hamburg is a terrible film director. John Hamburg directed Me Time. Hamburg directed Why Him?, Little Fockers, and I Love You, Man! And every one of these movies missed the mark. I’ve seen every one of these films, and although there are aspects to each film that I liked, I left feeling like something was off. I thought Bryan Cranston and James Franco would have excellent chemistry in Why Him? especially in the context of a father and would-be son-in-law, and the two actors could very well have if anyone else had directed it. I Love You, Man! was well received by the audience, but as good as the story and the script are, the film could have been so much better. Instead, I Love You, Man! is my least favorite Paul Rudd film.

Everything that John Hamburg has done had the potential to be much better, and probably would have been if Shawn Levy or David Dobkin had directed it (they have made similar movies). At the very least, Me Time was a phenomenal success exposing John Hamburg as a fraud.

          I hope that Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg work together again and under the direction of someone who knows what they’re doing. Hart and Wahlberg could have among the best comedic chemistry in the business, I have no doubt. I doubt very much that I’ll sit through another John Hamburg film now that I know what the problem is with his movies, and I hope that when a good script comes his way (or he writes a decent script, which he’s capable of doing) he leaves the direction of the script to more capable directors.