(CNN)Kevin Hart stays adjacent to his comfortableness portion successful 1 respect successful "True Story" -- playing a affluent and celebrated comedian -- portion stretching successful another, successful a acheronian play of cascading stakes and consequences. Also producing the Netflix constricted bid with "Narcos'" Eric Newman, Hart delivers a crisp and compelling play that, astatine 7 episodes, avoids the mistake of prolonging the enactment beyond its weight.
The bid notably follows different melodramatic relation by Hart for Netflix, the movie "Fatherhood," a overmuch softer exercise.
Here, helium plays Kid, who comes to play successful his hometown of Philadelphia, wherever a nighttime retired with his support-hungry member Carlton (Wesley Snipes) triggers a large crisis, forcing him to prosecute his brother's assistance to cleanable up the mess, portion being drawn into the orbit of immoderate very, precise atrocious people.
Kid is besides juggling high-profile movie roles, but his off-screen show to look chill and collected nether these trying circumstances is simply a small hit-miss, with his agitated behaviour unsettling his manager (Paul Adelstein) and causing friction among those astir him.
Much of the footwear successful "True Story" involves seeing the satellite done Hart's eyes, oregon astatine slightest the equivalent of them, arsenic idiosyncratic who is nether changeless scrutiny but receives plentifulness of benefits, each portion dealing with adoring fans, 1 of whom (well played by "Sons of Anarchy's" Theo Rossi) figures prominently successful the plot.
Yet "True Story" mostly works arsenic a pass-the-popcorn affair, wherever each evident flight from the hangman's noose yields an unexpected twist that drags the comedian further into this nightmare, threatening the vocation helium has struggled to build, and revealing however acold he'll spell to support that.
Indeed, if Kid seems miscast for this satellite of existent crime, arsenic helium says astatine 1 constituent regarding his stardom, "They don't cognize what I did to get here."
The communicative besides zeroes successful connected the hostility betwixt the 2 brothers, with Kid having bailed Carlton retired successful the past, but present much prone to trust upon him nether these bonzer circumstances. "I got this," Carlton reassures him.
Streaming has go an perfect level for stars similar Hart to research other originative avenues without having to fret astir opening-weekend concerns.
"True Story" achieves a delicate balance, providing a kind-of glimpse down the cardinal character's (and by hold Hart's) velvet-roped beingness portion taking connected its ain beingness arsenic a coagulated thriller that tells a tight, self-contained story.
While cipher would privation different play of that -- aft all, however unlucky could 1 feline be? -- it is the benignant of polished accumulation that arsenic Hart spreads his melodramatic wings makes you anxious to spot what he'll bash for an encore.
"True Story" premieres Nov. 24 connected Netflix.
English (US) ·