Eddie The Eagle is full of glurge, let's get that clear right off the bat. It's a plucky underdog tale, there's a redemptive arc of the jerky alcoholic coach, lots of sneering toffs and arrogant rivals and an adorkable hero who somehow comes out ahead. This is a story that surely the most calculating and manipulative hack writer would surely write off as too contrived and clichéd... if it weren't in fact true.
Well, in broad strokes of course. The alcoholic American coach was entirely fictitious and in all probability the Olympic selection committee probably had more things to worry about than waging some personal vendetta on a plasterer with a dream of being a ski jumper. But Michael 'Eddie' Edwards really did exploit a loophole to basically sneak into the Olympics basically as an oversight.
More to the point... he really was that endearingly rubbish. We Brits do love an underdog but his total lack of triumph only served to make him all the more charming, and this is where Taron Egerton (surely a rising star of the future) really comes into his own. Eddie was a terrible ski jumper and everyone knew it, but as played by Egerton this includes Eddie himself. But he wins us round by showing that Eddie genuinely doesn't care about winning or losing. He truly just wants to be able to say he's done the best he can do (which, it bears repeating, is basically 'not crash/die').
Also impressive is the fictional coach played by Hugh Jackman. The 'bad boy of ski jumping turned alcoholic loser' is a very generic character and his character arc is both obvious and clichéd. But he manages to infuse enough charm that we just don't care. Perhaps appropriately, his slightly wobbly accent throughout only serves to add to this. Supportive Mum and Critical Dad are likewise pretty bland, cookie cutter characters given more life than they really deserve by solid performances.
All of which makes this sound like derivative, feel good clichéd nonsense.... which it absolutely is. BUT (and here is where the film will stand or fall) everyone involved knows it and willing embraces it. It takes all the beats and the tired old tropes and wears them proudly. And for me personally, it works because of that. I can certainly see some people coming out of the theatre despising the film for the same reasons I loved it, and this probably won't be a box office smash... but if you like underdogs too and you want a film that will make you just plain glad to have watched it... well, you could do a lot worse than give Eddie The Eagle a watch.
Film Feel Good Shmaltz... done right.
Eddie The Eagle is full of glurge, let's get that clear right off the bat. It's a plucky underdog tale, there's a redemptive arc of the jerky alcoholic coach, lots of sneering toffs and arrogant rivals and an adorkable hero who somehow comes out ahead. This is a story that surely the most calculating and manipulative hack writer would surely write off as too contrived and clichéd... if it weren't in fact true.
Well, in broad strokes of course. The alcoholic American coach was entirely fictitious and in all probability the Olympic selection committee probably had more things to worry about than waging some personal vendetta on a plasterer with a dream of being a ski jumper. But Michael 'Eddie' Edwards really did exploit a loophole to basically sneak into the Olympics basically as an oversight.
More to the point... he really was that endearingly rubbish. We Brits do love an underdog but his total lack of triumph only served to make him all the more charming, and this is where Taron Egerton (surely a rising star of the future) really comes into his own. Eddie was a terrible ski jumper and everyone knew it, but as played by Egerton this includes Eddie himself. But he wins us round by showing that Eddie genuinely doesn't care about winning or losing. He truly just wants to be able to say he's done the best he can do (which, it bears repeating, is basically 'not crash/die').
Also impressive is the fictional coach played by Hugh Jackman. The 'bad boy of ski jumping turned alcoholic loser' is a very generic character and his character arc is both obvious and clichéd. But he manages to infuse enough charm that we just don't care. Perhaps appropriately, his slightly wobbly accent throughout only serves to add to this. Supportive Mum and Critical Dad are likewise pretty bland, cookie cutter characters given more life than they really deserve by solid performances.
All of which makes this sound like derivative, feel good clichéd nonsense.... which it absolutely is. BUT (and here is where the film will stand or fall) everyone involved knows it and willing embraces it. It takes all the beats and the tired old tropes and wears them proudly. And for me personally, it works because of that. I can certainly see some people coming out of the theatre despising the film for the same reasons I loved it, and this probably won't be a box office smash... but if you like underdogs too and you want a film that will make you just plain glad to have watched it... well, you could do a lot worse than give Eddie The Eagle a watch.