“You are the least qualified person for this position.”
“The Upside” is a new drama/comedy film about the unlikely friendship that forms between a recently paroled man and a quadriplegic billionaire. With big names such as Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston and Nicole Kidman starring, is the film a heartwarming hit or an unfunny flop?
After being released from prison on parole, Dell Scott (Hart) struggles to find a job and to rebuild relationships with his son and ex-girlfriend. When he mistakenly interviews to be the caregiver for quadriplegic billionaire Phillip Lacasse, he is hired due to his lack of ability. While Phillip’s personal assistant Yvonne (Kidman) initially doubts Dell, the two soon form a friendship which could significantly improve both of their lives.
While the trailers portray this film as a straight comedy, it is more of a drama than anything. It isn’t until about 30 minutes in that the film has some real comedy, if you don’t count a few chuckle-worthy throwaway lines early on.
The biggest downfall of “The Upside” is that it is a bad drama. All the serious scenes are incredibly dry, boring and cliché, with the only thing giving them any sense of enjoyment being Cranston’s performance. Serious scenes without Cranston, such as almost every scene with Hart and his ex-girlfriend (Aja Naomi King), are hard to sit through. Hart, clearly, should stick to comedy.
When “The Upside” is embracing its comedic side, the film shines. Cranston and Hart have great chemistry together. The dryness of Hart’s performance enhances his comedic scenes, making this one of his funniest roles to date. It’s too bad that these comedic scenes are only about half of the movie.
Kidman gives a serviceable performance as Yvonne. Her performance was mostly forgettable, but she did what she needed to do for the role.
“The Upside” can be, frankly, hard to sit through at times. It has one of the worst openings of any film I’ve ever seen, making me wonder what the editors of the film must have been thinking. There were multiple times where I rolled my eyes and thought, “I’ve seen this a million times before.” This is mainly due to the lackluster script and direction. There were scenes with some truly awful dialogue that couldn’t be saved by any great performance.
I really wanted to like this film. It had so much going for it, such as a great performance by Cranston, fantastic chemistry between Hart and Cranston, and a few hilarious scenes. Sadly, half of the movie contains some of the worst attempts at drama I have seen recently.
These cliché, badly written scenes make it hard for me to recommend this movie to anyone who isn’t a fan of Hart or Cranston. If you are a fan of either of these great actors, however, I think the comedic scenes will be enough for you to get some enjoyment out of “The Upside”.
2.5/5 Stars
