A Night at the Kindergarten Review: A Parody of Every Parents’ Nightmare

A Night at the Kindergarten, also known as Noc W Przedszkolu, is a Polish movie depicting the life of stressed parents and a stepfather who dislikes children. Directed by Rafal Skalski, the movie exhibits just right about how parenting can be tough, especially when parents fail to notice their own flaws. The movie has a runtime of about 1 hour and 37 minutes.

The full cast of the movie includes Piotr Witkowski, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Lena Gora, Masza Wagrocka, Julia Wyszynska, Sylwia Boron, Aleksandra Domanska, Dobromir Dymecki, Matylda Damiecka, Maciej Nawrocki and Piotr Borowski. The movie’s protagonist is of course our all time Piotr Witkowski, who is known for his hit movie, Lesson Plan. It will be surprising to his fans to see the action star in a comedy.

The official Netflix description of the movie is:

A young man crashes a school play rehearsal to prevent a group of teachers and eccentric parents from expelling his girlfriend’s son.

– A Night at the Kindergarten Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –

The movie starts with our main guy Eryk (Piotr Borowski) placing a bet on a kid tripping and falling. To his expectation, the kid does fall down on his face and Eryk gets a double dope. Initially he is seen as a man who hates kids but surprisingly in the next scene after the intro, Eryk is seen at his girlfriend’s place with a child named Tytus. It is apparent that Eryk is not the father as Tytus and Eryk don’t get along well.

To avoid babysitting the arrogant Tytus, Eryk asks his friend to babysit the toddler while Eryk decides to go to the meeting at Tytus’ kindergarten. And that’s where the long night with revelations, mysteries and dark secrets unravel. Eryk who disliked Tytus, tries his best to find the truth out, initially for his girlfriend’s sake but later for the child’s benefit.

A Night at the Kindergarten: New Parents Need Guidance

Usually when couples decide to bring up a child, they often can make hasty decisions. However, one must seriously think about it because bringing up a child isn’t really easy. The movie portrays the hardships of new parents who’ve so far lived as independent adults with not much responsibilities.

The movie made use of various characters to exhibit the struggles of parenting children and how a single mistake can flip the child’s personality all at once. All the parents in the movie initially believed that they were all fine with having kids but as the movie progresses, various series of events makes them all realize the truth.

Also Read: Stuck With You (2022) Review: Short, Silly and Slapstick

A Unique Plot

According to me, the movie’s plot was really fresh and unique. The thought of combining a children theme with adult genre seemed brilliant. At first, the movie might seem like a childish comedy but as it progresses, it takes a deep U-Turn and becomes completely R-rated. The movie excellently made use of the nativity play to empower gender, parental troubles and such. The concept of everything happening in just one night, that too in a kindergarten is completely unexpected.

A Lot Was Going On

Honestly, a lot of things were going on in the movie and it still made sense. Usually, movies can become clumsy if too many characters and their stories come in, but in this movie everything was detailly and neatly put out. No story overpowered another but rather only built the climax cohesively. I loved how every character had an authentic backstory and personality.

Moreover, the characters weren’t typical good parents. Each of them represented different ethnicity, age, gender and complications. This made the movie more relatable as it didn’t comprise just to a regular set of PARENTS. I loved the way everyone were dressed as well. It differentiated each one of them.

The Visuals Were a Little Dull

While the setting, theme and cinematography was perfect for the movie, I felt the visuals were pretty dull. Maybe, it was purposely done to show the cold life of adults but as it still comprises a Kindergarten, it could have at least made justice to the colors inside the building. The color grading was a little dull, but if it was made to match with the stressed parents, then it’s a cool thought. However, in the ending when things got sorted, they could have shifted the whole movie’s color to something bright, representing a good ending.

A Night at the Kindergarten: Final Verdict

The movie was wholesome. It was hilarious but at the same time serious. It had the sad essence but it also balanced it well with light hearted comedies. The movie at the end of the day gave out its intended thought of why parents should take parenting seriously. The movie also affirmed that it isn’t easy to parent a child and help is needed for the adults.

There were so many beautiful backstories including a parent battling cancer and being a single mother, portrayed in a new perpesctive. Really a great movie to watch to take home a neat message.

To watch A Night at the Kindergarten, you can visit Netflix. Also, feel free to comment your thoughts on this movie.

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