Going straight into it, Bryan Cranston stars as an excentric billionaire who is left paralyzed from the neck down after a paragliding accident (yes, I acklowlege the controversy in casting him over a disabled actor, but that’s a convo for a different day). At a low point, where he feels he has nothing left to lose, he hires the ridiculously unqualified Kevin Hart to be his caretaker. The two form an unexpected and unlikely friendship, and how many times have I written that cheesy line in a write up?
I found this so delightful, as evidenced by the joyful smile on my face throughout the whole time. The pair of actors being brought together are just as unlikely a set as the characters, and they worked beautifully off each other. Cranston has been working his way up my list of fave actors, and this gave him a showcase for both his dramatic and comedic sides. Since I likely won’t be able to make the trip out to NYC to see him on Broadway, it was a a pleasant consolation prize to see him on the big screen (tho I’d still take Network over The Upside, any day)
Kevin Hart was the one who really impressed me though. He’s always been too much, too over the top for me, and I’ve said for a while that I really wanna see him take on something a bit more restrained and down to earth. This was that role! It wasn’t as impressively dramatic as I’m sure he was hoping to prove, but it was a good level of comedy that suited him well. I really do want to see him work more in that space because he excelled at it.
Not bad for a January offering. I wish it didn’t have so many clouds hanging over it (the casting controversy, the release limbo thanks to a certain subhuman producer who shall remain nameless), but it was very much worth going to. Now to get my hands on a copy of the original French film it was based on…
The Upside – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n