This is now considered one of the two 'dead zones' of the calendar year (the other being during the months of September and October), and even though most of the films aren't truly caliber films, once in a while there will be a heartfelt, entertaining one that will capture one's attention--case in point with "The Upside". It wasn't a perfect film, but it certainly was the quintessential 'odd couple' movie.
Based on a true story, this is about a wealthy billionaire quadriplegic, Philip Lacasse (Brian Cranston) who needs a caretaker to help him with his day-to-day routine in his New York penthouse. Through his personal assistant, Yvonne Pendleton (Nicole Kidman), he interviews many applicants. He decides to hire Dell Scott (Kevin Hart), a struggling parolee who's trying to reconnect with his ex-wife Latrice (Aja Naomi King) and his son Anthony (Jahi Di'Allo Winston). Despite coming from two entirely different worlds, an unlikely friendship starts to blossom as Dell and Philip rediscover the joy of living life to the fullest. Both of them need to grow on many levels, so after they met, through many trials between the two, they realize their respective positions in life aren't quite as hopeless as they originally concluded.
Others to round out the cast are Genevieve Angelson as Jenny, Golshifteh Farahani as Maggie, Philip's physical therapist, Tate Donovan as Carter, Julianna Margulies as Lily, Suzanne Savoy as Charlotte, Philip's cook, and Michael Quinlan as Jack.
This was delineated effortlessly by director Neil Burger ("Interview with the Assassin" '02, "The Illusionist" '06, "The Lucky Ones" '08, "Limitless" '11, "The Asset" (TV movie) '12, "Divergent" '14, "The Jury" (TV movie) '16) plus TV. This filmmaker really had the ability to connect these characters through his actors with clarity and it gave that realistic factor, especially with the two lead stars. I couldn't think of two actors that are so different, but at the end of the day, connected as well as they did and this is effortless directing. It was solidly written by Jon Hartmere (TV and a short), based on the motion picture "Le Intouchables" by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache. While Hartmere has no feature film experience, his ability to write a tight, cohesive script was amazing. Even his TV experience isn't substantial, but this storyline was honed well. There were a couple of places of slowness where the running time might've been able to be cut 5-7 minutes, but otherwise, this script soared. This writer will undoubtedly receive more work. As the film dictates, Philip and Dell were actually friends until Philip's death in 2015 which says something for their tenacity to stay the course with each other.
There have been other films that address this topic, but this is the first I've seen that is as funny as it is without it not being insensitive, which is difficult to convey without sounding crass. And with actors like Cranston and Kidman, how could one go wrong. Even Hart shined in this, and I'm not particularly fond of the films that he does. This certainly proves that Hart can act, and with that, I would love to see him in more films like this.
Out of 4 Stars: 3.5 Rated: PG-13 126mins.
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