Review of The Upside (2019) by Dawdlingpoet — 22 Nov 2021

This is a remake of the French film 'Intouchables' by Eric Toledano. I've seen that film and so I was suspicious that this film would be a disappointment, as I really enjoyed the original film a lot, giving it a 5 star rating. However, I needn't worry about being disappointed because I found this surprisingly amusing. Its true that the subject material is a little taboo - namely the main character, Philip, being cared for being a quadriplegic and his new assitant (Dell) being quite a sharp witted person, a bit of a social outsider from the working classes who, lets say, isn't afraid to tell things as they are. As in the original film, its got quite amusing moments and I didn't feel too guilty laughing at them, as (much like in the original film) its clear that the assistant is quite friendly with him and that its a genuine friendship, not faked/forced.

I thought that both Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston come across well on screen as the main characters seem pretty witty and self aware - actually Cranstons character, Philip, probably seems more self aware than Dell, which may seem a bit of a surprise to some. One example of an amusing piece of dialogue is as follows:- (following Dell being irritated Philip wouldn't do something) 'you shook my hand!' (i.e. to agree to it) 'hah - I'd like to see that stand up in court!'. It does seem a bit uncomfortable given Philips disability but its honestly an enjoyable film - I liked that we (as the viewer) can visibly see the two main characters seemingly genuinely laugh at each other at different times, while at other times Philip opens up about his past and Dell is shown to be quite moved by what he learns. I also enjoyed seeing Nicole Kidman playing the rather strict and no-nonsense, looking-down-her-nose-at-Dell, member of Philip's staff, a lady called Yvonne Pendleton, who is clearly (certainly aspiring to be) upper class. I suppose this film, like the original, is thought provoking in terms of social class, assumptions of who can help those better off, of who will naturally get along with who and so on, with Dell coming from the Projects in NYC and Philip being a fan of classical music etc.

I recognised a number of scenes in the film from the original film - I reckon they've kept certainly most of the main script of the original film in this one, only with (obviously) different settings and US slang etc. present instead of French, of course.

It seemed quite genuine and I had assumed this may not be the case, so I was greatly surprised and pleased by this. I would still recommend the original film but this one is a solid 4 star film regardless. It may not be to everyones taste but its still a good film and if it interests you then I'd say its worth a watch.