No real upside

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/01/2019 (2453 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The opening titles tell us that the events in The Upside are based on a true story.

It should be clarified: the events of The Upside are based on a movie based on a true story, so consider it reality twice removed. The original movie was The Intouchables (2012), a French film about a Senegalese immigrant (Omar Sy) on the verge of parole violation. He lucks into a job caring for a quadriplegic billionaire (Francois Cluzet) who hopes his new assistant’s street smarts will spare him the pity he encounters among others. In the story that inspired that film, the assistant was Arab, but that detail flew by the wayside on the strength of Sy’s charismatic performance.

Transplanting the story to the U.S. was a risky move in the current cultural climate, since even the original movie was viewed by some as a carry-over of past patronizing chestnuts such as Driving Miss Daisy or The Legend of Bagger Vance, wherein downtrodden black characters serve to show privileged white folks the folly of their ways.

This movie can’t help add a Trading Places vibe, since the assistant role is played by a caustic comedian at times reminiscent of Eddie Murphy. Kevin Hart plays Dell, a parolee trying to put his criminal past behind him as he struggles to reconnect with his estranged wife and son. Needing a third signature on his employment form to prove he is looking for a job, he blunders into the lush Fifth Avenue penthouse abode of Phil (Bryan Cranston) who was paralyzed from the neck down due to a paragliding accident.

Dell is a hard case (at least as far as Kevin Hart characters go), so Phil gives him the job over the objections of his loyal assistant Yvonne (Nicole Kidman). Phil reasons Dell is the kind of guy who would not intervene over his Do-Not-Resuscitate directive. Phil’s depression, it emerges, was exacerbated by the death of his wife. Dell, too, is in a kind of state of mourning of the loss of his own wife Latrice (Aja Naomi King), who seems unlikely to forgive Dell his multiple sins.

Director Neil Burger (Limitless) is presented with a challenge in that both these characters lead grim lives and both have, to some extent, given up hope. Burger’s hope is that by throwing these guys in a narrative blender, something sweet and redeeming will emerge.

Hence, much of the film depends on the chemistry between Hart and Cranston. Hart does his best to portray Dell’s toughness while avoiding his comedy default setting of jittery anxiety. But a scene in which he is obliged to help Phil insert his catheter sees him engage in the homosexual panic that probably lost him that Oscars hosting gig. It also feels a bit too much like Kevin Hart shtick.

Cranston, as assured as he is, feels a bit too strong in the role. Playing a quadriplegic means an actor cannot rely on their usual tools of physical expression, including voice and facial movement. But, Cranston seems intent on retaining his actorly authority, to the detriment of the character.

So inasmuch as 2019 may be a good time for movies that strive to bridge the racial divide currently afflicting America, The Upside is not it.

As for its connection with The Intouchables, the main thing they have in common is that neither title makes any sense.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing