✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Cinema

The Upside film review ★★★★★

11 Jan 19 – 11 Jan 20, TIMES VARY

In The Upside, Hollywood remake of French triumph Intouchables, Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston play two unlikely friends in a sentimental but stultifying rehash

By Ella Kemp on 8/1/2019

Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston in The Upside
Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston in The Upside
The Upside film review 2 The Upside film review Ella Kemp
In 2011, Intouchables revitalised contemporary French cinema with a heartwarming drama about an unlikely friendship. The film now sits in the top 10 of the highest-grossing non-English films of all time. Fifteen months after its initial premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, viewers who saw, loved, or couldn’t muster the energy to read the subtitles of the original film, can put their feet up with The Upside, a stultifying Hollywood rehash.


The film has taken this long to reach cinema screens due to its affiliation with the Weinstein Company, which, following Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse allegations, forced The Upside to sit on the shelf until STX Entertainment decided to give this film another shot.


The commitment to this story comes from a good place – at least that’s what you’d like to believe. A white, wealthy quadriplegic billionaire (Bryan Cranston) hires a black man with a criminal record and no relevant experience (Kevin Hart) to take care of him. Intouchables is based on a true story, giving this film some kind of safety net and justifying the onscreen existence of such a relationship.


The template for heartwarming togetherness that Intouchables offered has now morphed into a bubblewrapped package of heartsqueezing discomfort. There is nothing new in the way this story is being told, as what worked brilliantly before clearly got lost in translation. François Cluzet and Omar Sy (the actors in the French film) capitalised on their star status in the noughties, and shook up a somewhat stale climate of mainstream movies in France. Audiences weren’t expecting it and grew to love it, but eight years later there’s no magic left in any tricks this 2019 film halfheartedly tries to pull off.



In The Upside, Bryan Cranston plays the part François Cluzet charmed the world with in 2011


It’s difficult to disappear into a world where the story matters more than the the stars who have been hired to tell it. Especially when you struggle to remember the characters’ names and have to nod at Nicole Kidman’s accent, the precise lines of Cranston’s face or the slapstick comedy so heavily relied on by Hart. Add to this the inescapable controversy surrounding Hart’s hosting of the Oscars and Cranston’s comments about able-bodied actors playing disabled characters, and the inspirational message of equality tastes a bit sour.


It feels like a great shame – the process of casting, funding, and promoting yet another remake gives attention to a project that is building from the success of a past film, whether or not it will admit to its status as a copy or claim to challenge the quality of the original. When it’s an English-language remake too, the emotional tropes are all the more recognisable within an industry dominated by endless feel-good look-glossy comedies, further flattening the singularity of what made Intouchables so special in the first place.


The original film responds to the unspoken prejudice of modern French culture characterised by 'casual' racism and quotidian narrow-mindedness. But this problem affects France in a completely different way to any other country, especially the US. The Upside now just resembles an upside down version of Green Book (this year's divisive awards frontrunner, based on real events allegedly ‘inspired by a true friendship'). And despite what the Golden Globes might have decided, it does very little in the way of good impressions.



What The Upside film review
When 11 Jan 19 – 11 Jan 20, TIMES VARY
Price £ determined by cinemas
Website Click here for more information



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 27–29 January
Things to do in London this weekend: 27–29 January
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London (Photograph: Peter Lewicki)
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London, 2023
Culture After Dark: The Best Museum Late Night Openings
Culture After Dark: the best museum late-night openings

Editor's Picks

Oscars 2019: Nominees are on the way, here's what we know
Oscars 2019: everything we know so far
Yifei Liu in Mulan
Best movies to watch this month, March 2020
Laura Harring and Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive
How to get cheap cinema in London: offers to know
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

Cinema

Bryan Cranston

Nicole Kidman

Kevin Hart

You might like

  • John C Reilly and Steve Coogan in Stan & Ollie

    Stan & Ollie film review ★★★★★

  • Nicole Kidman in Destroyer

    Destroyer film review ★★★★★

  • Aaron Paul returns as Jesse Pinkman in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

    El Camino: Breaking Bad returns in Netflix film

  • Theodore Pellerin and Lucas Hedges in Boy Erased

    Boy Erased review ★★★★★

  • Joaquin Phoenix in Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot

    Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot film review ★★★★★

  • The Hate U Give: Amandla Stenberg fights injustice with raw power

    The Hate U Give film review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×