Eddie the Eagle

With a movie that so desperately wants to be sweet and uplifting like Eddie the Eagle, you almost hate to criticize it.  But, criticize it I must, because the movie simply did not work for me.  I found myself resistant to its charms.  You may enjoy it, especially if you like a good sports underdog story.  I've enjoyed many of them, but found this one a bit hollow and overly cutesy.  It's one of those movies that is so filled with good feelings and warmth, it started to feel a bit overpowering to me.

The movie is based on the true life story of Michael "Eddie" Edwards, a working class young man from Britain who defied all odds, and became a professional downhill ski jumper in the 1988 Winter Olympics.  He had no real athletic ability or training, and was basically seen as a joke by his fellow athletes.  However, through sheer determination and skill, he managed to make it to the Olympic games.  And even though he placed last, he still managed to win the hearts of many, and personified the belief that winning isn't everything, it is the journey and the determination that makes the athlete.  Based solely on that description, you probably have figured out every story beat the movie goes through, as Edwards becomes determined, faces some bullies who say he can't do it, maybe has some family issues with a father who doesn't believe in his dreams, and ultimately overcomes it all.  And yet, predictability is not the issue here.  What prevented me from getting behind the film is that we don't learn anything about the man at the center of the film, other than he was full of pluck, and always had a smile on his face.

We follow Eddie (played by Taron Egerton from Kingsman: The Secret Service) from childhood, where he had dreams of competing in the Summer Games in Track and Field, despite suffering from some leg ailments in his youth.  But, at some point, his interests changed, and he decided to switch his dreams over to downhill ski jumping.  His parents represent two completely different steadfast ways of thinking.  Eddie's father (Keith Allen) is completely against the idea of his son competing, and wants him to go into the family business of plaster.  His mother (Jo Hartley), on the other hand, is sweetly supportive in every way, and has no character traits other than to smile and tell her boy to do his best.  When Eddie does start to pursue his Olympic dreams, he is stopped at every turn by rival skiers and those snooty British Olympic representatives, who don't want Eddie to participate, and even go so far as to change the qualifying rules in order for him to compete.  Of course, none of this gets Eddie down one little bit.  There's not a single moment in this movie when he questions his own abilities, or has second thoughts.  Sure, he gets worried once in a while, or maybe a bit hurt when his father brushes him off.  But, seconds later, he's smiling again and ready to go.

Eddie is drawn so simplistically and sweetly by the screenplay that he never came across as a real person, and therefore never became someone who I could get behind.  He's all smiles and determination all the time.  It would be nice if he was given something to talk about other than competing when he meets and teams up with Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman), a former American Olympic ski jumper who could have been one of the greats, but naturally was just too wild and out of control.  We know that Bronson is a "bad boy", because he's never seen without a cigarette or his flask of whiskey.  He decides to help Eddie with his training, but no real relationship is formed, since most of their training is represented in montages with cheerful and inspiring music.  Jackman is charismatic as always, at least, and Egerton and him do have some chemistry together.  It led me to wish that the movie had given their characters more development. 

Look, I knew walking in that this was not going to be a hard-hitting docudrama about the sports world.  I was ready to be carried away by a cheerful underdog story.  And yet, my better judgement prevented me from giving in, because it kept on reminding me that I wasn't enjoying the movie.  Eddie the Eagle is a sweet movie, but it offers absolutely nothing of substance.  It almost seems to be afraid to challenge its main character at times.  Sure, his dad rolls his eyes at him when he talks about his Olympic dreams, or maybe a teammate will laugh at him.  But that's about as deep as this movie goes in showing the hardships the real Eddie had to go through to get to the 88 Winter Games.  There is never a sense of success or overcoming the odds, because the movie never goes all that deep into the odds he faced. 

The story of Eddie actually happened at the same time as the Jamaican bobsled team, which shares a lot of similar uplifting notes, and was made into its own inspirational underdog movie, Cool Runnings, back in 1993.  That movie at least understood the absurdity of its story, and had fun with it by making it a comedy.  Eddie the Eagle tries to be a light drama, but it's too light for its own good, and ends up not making much of an impression.

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