Grade: B+/A-
Entire family: No, but . . . .
2016, 106 min., Color
20th Century Fox
Rated PG-13 for some suggestive elements, partial nudity, and smoking
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Featured audio: DTS-HDMA 7.1
Bonus features: B
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Trailer
Amazon link
Most of the time you can’t trust the glowing blurbs on Blu-ray and DVD boxes, but USA Today’s description of Eddie the Eagle as “delightfully feel-good” pretty much sums it up. And you don’t have to be a sports nut to enjoy this 2016 comedy-drama.
Eddie the Eagle is the latest sports biopic to celebrate the underdog who wins despite losing. It’s a movie that will remind you a lot of Cool Runnings, which told the story of a group of Jamaicans determined to enter the Olympic bobsled competition with the help of a has-been coach. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if writer Simon Kelton and director Dexter Fletcher had that 1993 Disney biopic in mind when they added a disgraced flask-carrying coach to the otherwise mostly true story of Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards, the Brit who was determined to represent his country in the Olympics no matter what sport, and who first took up ski jumping in his early ‘20s. Most competitors had been training since the age of six, so how is that possible? Because Great Britain hadn’t had an Olympic ski jumper since 1929, and all Eddie had to do to qualify for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary was to make a single minimum jump.
If it sounds like a sports film with no competition (and therefore, no interest), far from it. Eddie has plenty of obstacles to overcome. He may have boundless energy, enthusiasm, and dedication, but his athletic ability is
slightly above average, at best. Mostly, he’s competing against his own limitations, but there are subplots as well. After trying unsuccessfully to make the British Olympic downhill ski team, he thought he found the perfect loophole to allow him to fulfill his dream of competing in the Olympics. But the British Olympic Committee had ideas of their own. Then Eddie thought the battle would end after he was accepted as an Olympic participant, but next came a wave of negative reactions from “legitimate” ski jumpers. Even when he made it to Calgary, there was still the reaction from his unsupportive father to contend with.
Taking a page out of Billy Elliot, the filmmakers concoct a parallel conflict with a disapproving dad who wants his son to face facts and get a legitimate, respectable, paying job. Like Billy, whose dream was to dance rather than box, Eddie is obviously hurt by the lack of support, but undeterred. What makes Eddie such a likeable hero is that he just keeps going, eyes on the prize. While others around him drink, his beverage of choice is milk. While others have full social lives, Eddie has only a fellow outcast—the coach (Hugh Jackman) who is at first reluctant to take him on.
The real Eddie the Eagle was called “Mr. Magoo” by some journalists, and the way that Taron Egerton plays him you can’t tell whether Eddie is in some way disabled or if he’s just a simple man whose I.Q. isn’t the highest. He’s like the kid with glasses who was always picked on at school, or the mutt you rescue rather than entering him in a dog show. But in a world where winning is narrowly defined and you have people like Dance Moms’ Abby Lee Miller complaining that second place is the first loser, Eddie Edwards is a refreshing example of pursuing a dream that’s scaled down. He doesn’t dream of winning the Olympics. He dreams of participating at that level, and in following that dream he’s as inspiring as this biopic is entertaining.
The film may be rated PG-13, but I think children as young as 10 would enjoy this film, since the adult elements are understated. And the 7.1 soundtrack and glorious HD make you feel as if you’re experiencing it right there.
Language: A few mild swearwords and that’s it
Sex: The coach uses a lovemaking analogy to get his pupil to understand that at the moment of liftoff it’s corresponds to orgasm; very brief glimpse of male backside
Violence: Real footage of wicked wipe-outs are shown
Adult situations: Some smoking and drinking, with one instance where the other jumpers get Eddie intoxicated
Takeaway: Like Hoosiers and Cool Runnings, this is one underdog story that should get a lot of replay because the writing is crisp, the performances are engaging, and there are some good messages for youngsters
Grade: B+
because he killed a man in Alaska—a man who was beating up a prostitute. And he has an old photo of his mother that he keeps on a shelf. Most of the film takes place in Leavenworth before a prison official who resented Stroud got him transferred to Alcatraz. But, of course, Birdman of Leavenworth just doesn’t have the same ring. Alcatraz, “The Rock,” was a high-security penitentiary where troublemakers from the other prisons were sent.
