Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart do their best to boost a tired, cliché storyline in The Upside. It isn't enough.
Less than two months after another film (Green Book) about a white savior and a magic black man who come together under unusual circumstances to set each other’s lives back on course, The Upside limps into theaters with almost an identical set of problems as the entertaining but rote Viggo Mortensen-Mahershala Ali awards bait film. While The Upside, like Green Book, boasts generally strong performances from its two charismatic leads--Kevin Hart acquits himself pretty nicely in his first major dramatic role--the work done by Hart and co-star Bryan Cranston cannot save a cliché, manipulative and ultimately shallow movie.
The Upside is based on the 2011 French film The Intouchables, which became a major cultural phenomenon in that country and was itself inspired by the true story of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo...
Less than two months after another film (Green Book) about a white savior and a magic black man who come together under unusual circumstances to set each other’s lives back on course, The Upside limps into theaters with almost an identical set of problems as the entertaining but rote Viggo Mortensen-Mahershala Ali awards bait film. While The Upside, like Green Book, boasts generally strong performances from its two charismatic leads--Kevin Hart acquits himself pretty nicely in his first major dramatic role--the work done by Hart and co-star Bryan Cranston cannot save a cliché, manipulative and ultimately shallow movie.
The Upside is based on the 2011 French film The Intouchables, which became a major cultural phenomenon in that country and was itself inspired by the true story of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo...
- 1/10/2019
- Den of Geek
Bryan Cranston got the jump on would-be critics of his latest film role. The actor stars in “The Upside,” the Hollywood remake of the hit French film “The Intouchables,” a 2011 buddy comedy which follows the unlikely friendship between a wealthy quadriplegic white man (Cranston) and his black ex-con home health aide (Kevin Hart). Both films are inspired by the the real life friendship between French businessman Philippe Pozzo Di Borgo and his French-Algerian caretaker, Abdel Sellou. Both films cast an able-bodied actor in the role of Philippe.
“Well, that’s another business decision,” Cranston told IndieWire about the choice. “Wasn’t even my decision, but maybe that points out to bring more focus on disadvantaged or disabled actors, to be put in positions to have more opportunities and more diversity.”
Indie film actor Adam Pearson, who played opposite Scarlett Johansson in the 2013 film “Under the Skin,” and more recently as...
“Well, that’s another business decision,” Cranston told IndieWire about the choice. “Wasn’t even my decision, but maybe that points out to bring more focus on disadvantaged or disabled actors, to be put in positions to have more opportunities and more diversity.”
Indie film actor Adam Pearson, who played opposite Scarlett Johansson in the 2013 film “Under the Skin,” and more recently as...
- 1/9/2019
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
For what it’s worth, “The Upside” is exactly what you think it is: the latest Hollywood effort that aims to show that a black man and a white man with seemingly nothing in common can see past their differences and develop a mutual friendship. It’s just as pat and basic as it looks and sounds.
Maybe as we enter 2019 clinging to ideals of goodness, there is a place for a film like this that doesn’t really have a point beyond which to say that we can, in fact, all get along no matter what. That is, after all, the basis of Dell (Kevin Hart) and Phillip’s (Bryan Cranston) professional relationship-turned-friendship.
When we first meet the two, we’re not really sure how they know each other, because Dell is behind the wheel of a luxury car driving at full speed while Phillip is quietly strapped in on the passenger side,...
Maybe as we enter 2019 clinging to ideals of goodness, there is a place for a film like this that doesn’t really have a point beyond which to say that we can, in fact, all get along no matter what. That is, after all, the basis of Dell (Kevin Hart) and Phillip’s (Bryan Cranston) professional relationship-turned-friendship.
When we first meet the two, we’re not really sure how they know each other, because Dell is behind the wheel of a luxury car driving at full speed while Phillip is quietly strapped in on the passenger side,...
- 1/9/2019
- by Candice Frederick
- The Wrap
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