‘An Instant Dad’ (2023) Netflix Movie Review - Instantly Forgettable

Ricky (Blessing Lungaho) hangs out with his friends at a bar and engages in promiscuous behavior. He is not interested in long-term romantic relationships, as he prefers to have casual one-night stands. Still, Ricky has a plan in place for situations where a girl starts to show too much attachment, going as far as making plans to stay at his home after sex. He simply sends an SOS message to his friend, who pretends to be his mother and tells him on the phone that he is coming over. We see the successful execution of this plan during the opening scenes of An Instant Dad. Stacy (June Njenga) prepares breakfast for Ricky and considers watching a movie together. He drives her away by saying that his "mother" is visiting him later. On top of this, he keeps referring to Stacy as Sarah and feebly covers up his mistake by putting the blame on a migraine medicine.

This opening scene instantaneously makes you apprehensive. It's meant to be funny but isn't. The characters talk awkwardly as if reading their lines from a teleprompter. The stilted dialogues lack rhythm and energy. The camera observes the events impersonally. It's possible that Jennifer Gatero may not have even filmed this movie. In fact, it is even possible that the director was not present during the shoot, as the movie appears to have been recorded by a drone or any other machine. That could explain why everything is devoid of feelings. There is no joy or sadness in this cinematic fabric. Hell, the images are not even cinematic. The movie is so pitiful that you feel sorry for the people who are involved with it.

As the movie progresses, you realize things will remain constant (i.e., terrible). An Instant Dad is not a film but pretends to be one. The actors do not act but imitate those characters who have gone through the same situations. Ricky is an immature man who doesn't know how to cook. He prefers junk food and can have passionate discussions on cartoons. He behaves so much like a kid that it's no wonder he ends up living with one. Ricky is one-dimensional, yet the movie desperately attempts to insert psychological dimensions within him through his cousin, Leah (Torrey Wachanga). She tells him that he is numbing himself with meaningless sex and that he has a void in his life. We never sense this so-called void. Everybody merely moves here and there on the screen and says their lines.

The story is conceived without depth, which is why it becomes inadvertently funny when it focuses on something as heavy as grief. There is a bonding montage in the film that tries to be so cute that it can be replaced by the sight of a sweet kid whispering, "Hug me." And yet, the scene still looks forced. It's terribly empty. Everything is motivated by the fact that it's all written in the script. Nothing is spontaneous - there isn't any sense of discovery. Conflicts are artificially generated and laughably terminated. Alas, An Instant Dad is instantly forgettable.

Final Score- [2.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times