Um … so, I know it sounds like a joke, but it isn’t. I swear.
A man checks into a hotel, and steps out on a ledge. While there, the police do everything they can to get him to come in. After many hours of refusing to come inside, New Yorkers screaming for him to jump and a high-tech, jewel heist happening simultaneously, the man dramatically ends the charade by … actually entertaining audiences with mind-numbing silliness and a completely ridiculous plotline.
Shockingly, that is all.
“Man on a Ledge,” the newest film by documentatrian Asger Leth is a mess of events that tries really hard to be twisty and turney, but ends up being as transparent as glass. Starring Sam Worthington (“Avatar,” “Clash of the Titans”) as the actual “Man,” Elizabeth Banks (“30 Rock,” “Our Idiot Brother”) as a hot but out-of-sorts police psychiatrist and Edward Burns (“Saving Private Ryan,” “27 Dresses”) as a police detective assigned the case who looks so bored that he must know how silly everything seems, “Man on a Ledge” is a carnival ride of fun.
Along the way, Kyra Sedgwick shows up as a seemingly Hispanic news reporter, Jamie Bell as Worthington’s brother and some other familiar faces get paid – but seriously, none as important as Genesis Rodriguez. She is so wonderfully gorgeous and Latina that I may have blacked out from the shock of her. Just being honest here.
Rounding out the cast as the always-needed baddie is an emaciated Ed Harris that looks evil and hungry all at the same time.
Anyway. Moving on.
Suspending your sense of disbelief “Man on a Ledge,” while extremely flawed with a set of laws, justice and thievery that only Hollywood can provide, is actually pretty fun. Clearly, the writer Pablo F. Fenjves really thought that by piling on plot twist after plot twist, eventually the audience would just go along with it and, while I’d hate to admit that I got suckered, but, he was correct.
Without going too far down the rabbit hole – especially since that’s the whole source of the fun – let’s just say that what starts out as a simple suicide (my apologies if I offend someone who has had to deal with suicide – I’m not saying that suicide is simple – but that a movie that starts with a dude who is trying to kill himself by stepping out on a ledge and then is somehow able to keep asses in seats for 102 minutes does seem a little more complex) quickly becomes a hodge podge of other films including “Ocean’s 11,” “Law Abiding Citizen,” “Entrapment,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and, near the end, an episode of “Cheers.”
In the past, I have been critically critical of films that have taken this approach. Here, I’m glad they did, because if they did not, for sure it would have just been a steaming pile of … of … of … well, I guess a man who has actually jumped off of a ledge.
Acting wise, everyone is adequate. They apparently do their job, which; with a film like this is really all you can ask. There are five main characters that stand out and in teams of two they work really well together. Oddly, a nice attraction occurs between Worthington and Banks that, while not completely unexpected does seem out of place due to the circumstances. At the same time, Banks and Burns have this great connection of off handed comments that is both fun and a nice break in the seriousness of having a guy actually standing on a ledge. On the flip side, Bell and Rodriguez are hilarious and offer most of the best tension that occurs in the film. With a mix of comedy, flirty sexiness and heart-pounding sneakery, Bell and Rodriguez are gold and, in my opinion, the true source of with this movie becomes so entertaining.
Ed Harris is Ed Harris. Tough, mean and bad. Rich is another adjective I would use, but it’s kind of apparent once his character is introduced.
So, should you go see this film? Yeah, why not. It’s fun. It’s ridiculous and it’s not a heavy 3-hour event that pulls your heartstrings in ways that make you feel bad for being lucky enough to see a movie. The actors had fun and at times it shows. The twisty plotlines get overlapped and sillier with every turn, but it’s never confusing. The end tries to be a surprise, but it actually is pretty easy to see from the beginning of the film, but still, they tried.
3 out 5 Famous police officers who were disgraced and sent to prison a few years ago, but now no one recognizes him including some of the news people and other cops who knew him even though he had no facial reconstruction or surgery of any kind.
