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EDDIE THE EAGLE
Eddie the Eagle is the emotionally manipulative 2016 biopic/sports drama "inspired" by the life and career of British Olympic ski jumper Michael "Eddie" Edwards,who eventually went to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. It's not big on originality or imagination, employing every single cliche you've ever seen in a sports biopic and I had trouble believing that a lot of what happened here really happened, but in terms of pure entertainment, this movie worked.
We are introduced to Eddie as a handicapped, bespectacled, simple-minded sweet soul whose life long passion is to go the Olympics, but in a refreshing change of pace for movies of this kind, Eddie hasn't decided what sport he is interested in yet. I found it a little hard to swallow that one glance at a practice ramp clinched the decision for him, but I went with it and found a story that includes the expected peaks and valleys in such a story. We see his parents split on their support of their son's passion, as well as Eddie learning that Great Britain hasn't had a ski jumping team since 1929, accidentally finding the proper coach in an alcoholic former jumper named Bronson Peary and various forms of corporate red tape and technicalities keeping him off the Olympic slopes and even when he makes it, he still has to face discouragement from people who should be inspiring hhim, including some of his own teammates.
Director Dexter Fletcher and screenwriters Sean Macauley and Simon Kelton have constructed an entertaining, if hard to believe story that was probably embellished for entertainment value because the story of Eddie is presented strictly in terms of getting the audience behind this central character, making us fall in love with him and the only way to do that was to make this story irresistibly manipulative. I love the way the film opens with pre-teen Eddie trying out various sports and failing miserably at all of them before he decides what he wants to do, despite his father's declaration that he will never be an athlete, words that haunt our hero throughout. The character is presented as a bit of a paradox because he is directed and acted as if the character might have some mental health issues (quick research revealed some time spent in a mental hospital, but he had no real mental heath issues), yet the character is written as being extremely smart and passionate and knowing what he wants...the scenes of him coercing Peary into being his coach reveal a man who knows exactly what he's doing and exactly what he wants. The character does seem to be socially inept and a bit of a social hermit...he doesn't drink, a point driven home for a reason and is a virgin, a point also revealed for a reason, but this guy is no dummy.
As stated, this film is predictable and manipulative and you pretty much know what's going to happen if you watched the 1988 Winter Olympics, but what really makes this movie so much fun is the charismatic, star-making performance by Taron Egerton in the title role and the real movie star turn by Hugh Jackman as Bronson Peary. The onscreen relationship recalled Stallone and Burgess Meredith in Rocky and Hillary Swank and Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby. Keith Allen and Jo Hartley are terrific as Eddie's parents and there are a pair of classy supporting bits from Oscar winners Christopher Walken and Jim Broadbent. Exquisite cinematography and a heart-pumping music score cap off this highly manipulative sports story that probably was more interesting than Eddie's real story, but the manipulation works.
Eddie the Eagle is the emotionally manipulative 2016 biopic/sports drama "inspired" by the life and career of British Olympic ski jumper Michael "Eddie" Edwards,who eventually went to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. It's not big on originality or imagination, employing every single cliche you've ever seen in a sports biopic and I had trouble believing that a lot of what happened here really happened, but in terms of pure entertainment, this movie worked.
We are introduced to Eddie as a handicapped, bespectacled, simple-minded sweet soul whose life long passion is to go the Olympics, but in a refreshing change of pace for movies of this kind, Eddie hasn't decided what sport he is interested in yet. I found it a little hard to swallow that one glance at a practice ramp clinched the decision for him, but I went with it and found a story that includes the expected peaks and valleys in such a story. We see his parents split on their support of their son's passion, as well as Eddie learning that Great Britain hasn't had a ski jumping team since 1929, accidentally finding the proper coach in an alcoholic former jumper named Bronson Peary and various forms of corporate red tape and technicalities keeping him off the Olympic slopes and even when he makes it, he still has to face discouragement from people who should be inspiring hhim, including some of his own teammates.
Director Dexter Fletcher and screenwriters Sean Macauley and Simon Kelton have constructed an entertaining, if hard to believe story that was probably embellished for entertainment value because the story of Eddie is presented strictly in terms of getting the audience behind this central character, making us fall in love with him and the only way to do that was to make this story irresistibly manipulative. I love the way the film opens with pre-teen Eddie trying out various sports and failing miserably at all of them before he decides what he wants to do, despite his father's declaration that he will never be an athlete, words that haunt our hero throughout. The character is presented as a bit of a paradox because he is directed and acted as if the character might have some mental health issues (quick research revealed some time spent in a mental hospital, but he had no real mental heath issues), yet the character is written as being extremely smart and passionate and knowing what he wants...the scenes of him coercing Peary into being his coach reveal a man who knows exactly what he's doing and exactly what he wants. The character does seem to be socially inept and a bit of a social hermit...he doesn't drink, a point driven home for a reason and is a virgin, a point also revealed for a reason, but this guy is no dummy.
As stated, this film is predictable and manipulative and you pretty much know what's going to happen if you watched the 1988 Winter Olympics, but what really makes this movie so much fun is the charismatic, star-making performance by Taron Egerton in the title role and the real movie star turn by Hugh Jackman as Bronson Peary. The onscreen relationship recalled Stallone and Burgess Meredith in Rocky and Hillary Swank and Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby. Keith Allen and Jo Hartley are terrific as Eddie's parents and there are a pair of classy supporting bits from Oscar winners Christopher Walken and Jim Broadbent. Exquisite cinematography and a heart-pumping music score cap off this highly manipulative sports story that probably was more interesting than Eddie's real story, but the manipulation works.