Me Time - Netflix Movie Review

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All of us want some “me time” every now and then. In the context of working men vs. stay at home women, it is almost like a privilege that is showered on the latter by the earning male member of the house. It is not just unusual but also societally inappropriate for a father to be a house husband and rear the family while the lady love gets to work and earns the dough. The film “Me Time” is a typical characterisation of one such stay-at home dad, his wife, two kids, a long lost friend and how eventually it makes sense of the much-hyped “Me Time” that many of us crave for, quite often. 

Sonny Fisher (Kevin Hart) has a daily routine; get the kids ready to school, make breakfast for his wife Maya (Regina Hall), drop the kids at their school and undertake voluntary work at the same school, which he feels is a part of community service. Regina’s boss at the architecture firm Armanda Zavala (Luiz Gerard Mendez) feels very high of her and in a party, not just does he showers praises on her work but gets seemingly personal through chat messages. Sonny is a kind-at-heart guy in the neighborhood and is much appreciated for what he does to his family.


Enter Huck Dembo (Mark Wahlberg). He calls Sonny to join him for his 44th birthday bash, to which he has invited a number of other guests. Sonny refuses to join him, after a disastrous bash two decades back, yet the two remain good friends. He would rather prefer to join the family as they descend on a vacation to Maya’s parents’ place. But Maya, Huck and other friends convince him to take some time off and enjoy his much deserved “Me Time”. After a lot of apprehension, Sonny eventually agrees to take off and enjoy his time. He visits the neighbourhood pub, a strip club, eats on the eateries by the road and so on. He receives a message calling him one last time to join his bash and decides to go. The next 1 hour of the movie is all about how his time gets consumed, what he does in private and with his friends, the escapades and the realisation of the mess thereafter!


Sonny finds, to his surprise, that Huck has invited enough people who would fit in a large bus. They depart for a four-day vacay at an island and have lots of fun. As part of a primal hunt, Sonny gets attacked miserably by a lion though he escapes “scathed and scratched”. Some brilliant editing and cinematography here.


As everyone unwinds for the day, Stan Berman, who has loaned USD 47,000 to Huck arrives at the location based on Sonny’s Insta post. To his horror, he understands that Huck was fired from his job at the Ad Agency, that he has huge unpaid debts and this time, the creditor has landed up to crash the party, literally. 



Meanwhile, Armanda reaches Maya’s vacation location in a seaplane and discusses his plans  to buy an island, to which Maya could be the chief architect, by forming her own practice. When Sonny gets to know this, he is not impressed. In a fit of rage, Sonny and Huck, along with the Uber taxi driver reach Armanda’s home and mess it around big time. In the end, the Uber cab almost crashes on a tortoise which is expectedly over a 100 years old. All this gets videographed through CCTv; Armanda informs Maya and she decides to confront Sonny at their house – just that Huck has invited a huge gathering to continue his birthday bash at Sonny’s home! Maya is unimpressed and walks off the house leaving after realising that Sonny has bailed out Huck by offering USD 47,000 from their savings without consulting her. 


And then, there is the School Talent Day to which all the kids are preparing. Some practice harder, some don’t get selected. On the D-day, Sonny’s son is about to perform a piece on the keyboard but he messes it up. When Sonny comes to help his son, the kid informs on the dias that he never wanted to be a pianist. That’s when Sonny realises he was pushing his wishes on the kid. After a long emotional speech, Sonny’s son gives another lecture. Does the family part away after all these or otherwise? How about Sonny & Huck’s friendship? 


Watch on Netflix. “Me Time” – the movie is about the much desired time that we all crave for, but very few make the best use of it.

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