Explain & Song

While Kevin Hart may only be five-foot two-inches he stands a 100-feet tall in Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain. The first reel takes on a documentary feel as Hart narrates footage taken from Canadian and European tours. The rest of the film comes straight from Hart’s sold-out performance at Madison Square Gardens in 2024. Hart is funny, and maybe even hilarious at times. Hart even frankly answers questions about his divorce and a DUI. “It wasn’t a good day.” Such candor can be refreshing, and Hart has energy to burn.

Is Hart as funny as Kat Williams? Well, he’s certainly not as flamboyant and likewise could Williams sell out MSG? Does Let Me Explain exceed what is arguably the greatest stand-up doc, Richard Pryor Live On The Sunset Strip? Not really, yet Hart is the go-to comedian at the moment and if you want to get in on the zeitgeist then see the film. If you don’t at least find one joke to laugh at then contact me, I can refer you to the proper medical personel.

Unfinished Song has moments bitter and sweet and even profound. Terence Stamp stars with Vanessa Redgrave and both have the emotion meter in the red. Stamp at times grimaces and smokes and shuffles about like an angry old man who’d yell at kids to get off his lawn, if he had a lawn. Stamp does smile from time to time though and Redgrave is a beacon of happiness and grateful if she can live long enough to sing in a community home sponsored concert. Gemma Arterton co-stars as a music teacher who gets caught up in the couple’s drama.

Make it perfectly clear, Unfinished Song is not Away From Her and it’s not Amour. Yes, there’s an unmistakable dynamic of people in their autumn years but writer/director Paul Andrew Williams has a couple of aces up his sleeve. One involves another larger competitive concert where the community players turn up as serious underdogs. There’s also the matter of Stamp’s estranged relationship with his son (Christopher Eccleston, quiet but with issues).

Unfinished Song unwinds exclusively at the River Oaks Three starting this weekend.

- Michael Bergeron