Sadly, the rest of the cast have even less to work with and don’t have a moment to shine. This is especially true of poor Nicole Kidman who gets to sit there and do very little. She is too talented for such a throwaway role.
I don’t entirely know what happened here, as Neil Burger has directed amazing movies before, such as The Illusionist (my favorite Edward Norton movie) and Limitless. He has proven he can balance tone, drama, comedy, and character to excellent, visually arresting effect. Maybe the production woes of the film (it was a Weinstein Company picture before being sold off as the company went under to STX who recut it to a PG-13) stifled the movie. Maybe The Upside is too similar to the original to justify its existence. Whatever happened, watching The Upside is not without working part, but those elements never cohere to each other to make something worth recommending.
The Upside (2019) Directed by Neil Burger. Written by Jon Hartmere. Starring Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston, Nicole Kidman, Aja Naomi King, Golshifteh Farahani, Jahi Di’Allo Winston.
4 out of 10 Stars
Surprisingly really liked this movie. Just saw it at the movie theatre yesterday. We laughed a lot & so did others.
Enjoy the movie …It’s what I do for a living …So I could relate…
I enjoyed the Upside. We both did. The audience laughed a lot