Review of Eddie the Eagle (2016) by Matt G — 04 Mar 2016

It's hard to imagine anyone truly loving or hating Eddie the Eagle. A middle-of-the-road (or slope, if you prefer) true-life sports drama that is so similar to Disney's Cool Runnings that it's hard to believe they aren't actually connected. It's a 1980's set Winter Olympics tale starring an event contender from a country who has rarely competed in their event, led by a disgraced coach who learns to love the sport again. The only difference: Cool Runnings is relatively coherent and immensely charming, whereas Eddie prefers to just let the clichés abound like snowflakes on a ski-lift.

We watch Olympic hopeful Michael "Eddie" Edwards as he ascends the ranks of world-wide ski-jumping to just barely qualify as a contender. Just like Eddie himself, the film toes the line of barely passing and completely losing. At first, it's strong eighties setting and attention to detail is uniquely colorful for an inspirational sports film. Unfortunately the corny script, depthless characters, and atrocious skiing effects overwhelm any goodwill the movie earns early on.

What a shame that such an extremely easy-to-root for guy is stuck in such a weightless product. Egerton (Kingsman) is definitely a fun newcomer to watch, as he captures Eddie's naïve determination and awkward charm with aplomb. Director Fletcher, however, clearly doesn't have a strong enough grasp on what made this guy an unpredictable, worldwide phenomenon. Despite its promising protagonist and premise, Eddie the Eagle is sadly a forgettable movie about an unforgettable icon.