BEFORE: At first glance, it seems like my movie choices have been all over the map lately, a legal drama, a couple of sports-based films, and then a comedy about a celebrity visiting the President - but there is a common theme, which I only just realized. Let's call this "Based on a True Story" week, since the last thing I watched that was pure fiction was "Midsommar". The films about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Michael Oher and Carroll Shelby/Ken Miles are all forms of biopics, and then it is true that Elvis visited Nixon, we've got the photo to prove it, even if things didn't go down exactly like they did in the movie.
Tonight's film is also rooted in non-fiction, even if it came the long way around. It's a sort-of-remake of a French film called "The Intouchables", which was inspired by the life of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, a quadriplegic billionaire who hired an Algerian assistant, Abdel Sellou. For the U.S. remake they kept the character's names, Philip and Dell, and I'm guessing then just changed everything else. But there's a truthy story in there somewhere, and then tomorrow I'll have another biopic before moving back to fiction stuff.
Tate Donovan carries over from "Elvis & Nixon".
THE PLOT: A comedic look at the relationship between a wealthy man with quadriplegia and an unemployed man with a criminal record who's hired to help him.
AFTER: Every film has a lesson these days, here in the pandemic-filled end times. Often now it's a lesson to appreciate what I have, even if I'm out of work and housebound. I'm still healthy, thank God, I'm still mobile, even if I can't go anywhere, and I'm not alone. Of course I want the pandemic to end and I would love restrictions to be eased, so I can go to a restaurant, go on a road trip, go back to work (eventually, though unemployment checks are going to my bank account, and going back to work would mean something of a pay cut). Life may be one big shit sandwich right now, but what would be even worse would be having no sandwich at all. This is why we have movies, we can get glimpses into other people's lives and compare their experiences to ours, and then sometimes that allows us to feel better about our own situations. Right?
Look, there are good signs in NYC right now, the death rate seems to be decreasing, hospital intakes are also down, and people are starting to argue about when and how to re-open businesses and schools. Those are all good signs, and I said I wouldn't even consider going back in to Manhattan until the numbers got better, and the government had some kind of plan and schedule for ending the shelter-in-place orders. And when I feel reasonably certain that I won't get sick from riding the subway or walking down the street. How will I personally know when the crisis is over? Probably when I'm sitting in a buffet restaurant in some casino in Atlantic City, that's how. Until then I'm just resigned to the new routine, staying up late watching movies, sleeping until 1, eating two meals a day, and venturing out for groceries with my facemask once or twice a week.
Anyway, on to the film. Somehow it worked, pairing the loud, comedic Kevin Hart with the quieter, drier wit of Bryan Cranston. Chemistry was everything here, and perhaps this was a bit of a gamble, but it's one that I felt paid off. Putting a billionaire businessman & author up against a street hustler of color, you might risk going down the same road as "Trading Places", or other mismatch buddy comedies, and that clearly wasn't the goal here. What was a little contrived was getting the pair together in the first place, a situation where Dell thinks he's applying for a job as a janitor, only he's really just collecting signatures at interviews to prove to the unemployment office that he's looking for a job, though he really isn't, he just wants that weekly check. (Hey, timely!)
We're supposed to believe that Philip somehow sees something in this random guy at the interview, who doesn't even really WANT the job. Or perhaps Philip's intent was to pick the worst candidate so he'd have somebody to torment, it's not completely clear. But if that's his motivation, it feels like some screenwriter really bending the plot over backwards, just to create the comic mis-match. Which seems like a lot of work, but thankfully it does pay off. Still, it's that really hackneyed Hollywood way of getting two different people together so they can learn from each other. You know, it's a comedy, it's a drama, it's "about life". Gag.
The two men bond over opera and art, then bond further over smoking weed and those papaya hot dogs, and that I can kind of believe. They learn each other's tragic stories, about how Philip got paralyzed in a paragliding accident (it's a trick of the language that those two words seem similar, but if you told me that it's called para-gliding because you could get paralyzed doing it, I'd be inclined to believe you.). The friendship progresses well, until Dell convinces Philip to set up a date with a women he's been corresponding with, and well, things don't go very well, which then causes a huge setback in the relationship between the two men.
Ultimately, the two men come back together as friends, Dell is able to purchase a home for his ex-wife and son, and start his own business. Nothing is easy when it comes to getting everyone to a good place, but that's fine, because it should never be too easy, it should be hard work, like it is in real life.
As for the details, the fancy apartment is real - located at Park Avenue and East 63rd St. - as are many of the famous paintings, from artists like Twombly and Krasner and a custom-made mobile from Marco Mahler. The painting that Philip buys for $80,000 isn't from a known artist, though, it's just a prop painting made for the film. They also apparently shot much of the film in and around Philadelphia, and some outdoor locations in Pennsylvania, like when Philip and Dell go on the road near the end, or when Philip meets that woman in that fancy restaurant.
Also starring Kevin Hart (last seen in "Central Intelligence"), Bryan Cranston (last seen in "Wakefield"), Nicole Kidman (last seen in "Bombshell"), Golshifteh Farahani (last seen in "Paterson"), Aja Naomi King (last seen in "The Birth of a Nation"), Jahi Di'Allo Winston, Genevieve Angelson, Suzanne Savoy, Julianna Margulies (last seen in "Stand Up Guys")
RATING: 6 out of 10 catheters
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