An Instant Dad Review – One Manchild & a Little Lady
Ricky is a womanizing bachelor who only has one-night stands and has zero plans of settling down and having a family. So, when a ten-year-old girl turns up at his door claiming to his daughter, Ricky goes into panic mode, hoping to push the responsibility on someone else so that he can continue to live his carefree single life. Will the man-child be able to shrug off his new duties or finally grow up?
Written and directed by Jennifer Gatero, the 2023 Kenyan film “An Instant Dad” stars Blessing Lung’aho as protagonist Ricky and Hannah Wanjiku as his newfound daughter Amy. How these two strangers navigate their father-daughter relationship forms the crux of the story. The film is a bit like the 1987 hit “Three Men and a Baby,” which follows three eligible bachelors discovering a baby on their doorstep, leading to comedic struggles in raising the child. At least Ricky doesn’t have to endure sleepless nights changing diapers, but looking after a ten-year-old isn’t easy either.
The cinematography is very straightforward and almost makes the film look like a documentary or a YouTube VLOG about parenthood. Ricky’s first meeting with Amy is low-key hilarious, and most of their initial interactions are very awkward, which might cause second-hand embarrassment to the viewer too, but the characters being ill-at-ease around each other makes sense for two people who don’t really know each other. So, while the awkward dynamic works for the first half of the film, as the plot progresses, the growing friendship between Ricky and Amy doesn’t have the genuine warmth Jennifer Gatero attempts to portray.
While Blessing Lung’aho is convincing as the philandering bachelor trying to come to terms with the realities of being a father, child actor Hannah Wanjiku seems to hold herself back in the scenes that require her to exhibit big emotions of a child. Ricky is often seen hanging out with his group of friends at a pub, and while some of their banter is amusing, the camaraderie isn’t palpable, largely due to the lack of enthusiasm displayed by the supporting actors.
Less than 80 minutes long, “An Instant Dad” is an interesting attempt at exploring dad-daughter relationships and reminded me of Kevin Hart’s ‘Fatherhood,’ which is a heartwarming tale of a single-widowed father raising his baby alone as his wife dies after giving birth. As the climax approaches, Jennier Gatero jams in another sub-plot which the story can’t explore well due to the limited runtime – Ricky’s complex relationship with his own parents. With some improved dialogue writing, “An Instant Dad” could have been much more moving, but it still makes for a decent one-time watch.
You can stream the film on Netflix.
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