Netflix And Chill: The Man From Toronto (2022)

Kevin Hart plays a typical Kevin Hart type in this action comedy from the director of The Hitman’s Bodyguard. All you need to know right now is that this film isn’t even as good as The Hitman’s Bodyguard, which wasn’t any kind of modern classic itself.

I don’t even have the energy to relate the plot, as tired and overdone as it is, but here is the very basic outline. Teddy (Hart) ends up somewhere with people who mistakenly assume he is the very dangerous, and skilled, Man From Toronto (Woody Harrelson). Because he ends up involved in a job that has two or there main objectives, authorities want Teddy to keep up the pretence, to lure out The Man, while The Man ends up also wanting Teddy to keep up the pretence, for some convoluted reason to do with maintaining consistent identity from the first part of the job. Teddy just wants to stay alive long enough to make things up to his long-suffering wife, Lori (Jasmine Mathews). And blah blah blah blah blah.

This is a prime example of what happens when you marry a weak script (from Robbie Fox and Chris Bremner) to a weak director, fail to have main cast members who are charismatic enough to distract from the many negative aspects of the film, and think that viewers will be kept amused by action set-pieces that complement the physicality of the actors with an excessive amount of CGI (the effects often far from top quality work, it has to be said). As much as I disliked The Hitman’s Bodyguard, and the sequel, I was able to enjoy some moments thanks to the casting of Reynolds and Jackson. Hart and Harrelson aren’t the right fit for the roles they are given here.

There is nothing in the script that feels at all real, in terms of the movie world it is presenting. The Man From Toronto is supposed to be a mystery figure, yet a lot is known about him and he doesn’t exactly hide his identity, or even try to be subtle. Teddy isn’t ever developed as a character who really aims to change by the time the end credits roll (in fact, it could be argued that he doesn’t change at all from the start to the finish). And as for the mission at the heart of everything? Think about it for more than two seconds and you will see how ridiculous it is for anyone to be letting Teddy take the central role.

I guess those who like to see Hart doing his usual schtick will find some laughs here, and Harrelson isn’t terrible (he just doesn’t quite work in the role, due to a mix of the writing and his casting), but the supporting cast generally do better with much less screentime. Mathews is a pleasant presence, Kaley Cuoco is fun in the role of her friend, and Pierson Fode keeps things lively whenever he appears, playing The Man From Miami.

The final extended fight sequence has a number of fun moments, but is also dragged down by too much time spent cramming in camerawork flourishes and CGI, and you may start to realise just how few and far between the laughs were when you get to an end scene that is supposed to provide some extra chuckles, but doesn't. I'm not going to say that this is entirely laugh-free, and Hart fans will rush to strongly disagree with me, but it's disappointingly miserable with any jokes that actually work. Can we maybe encourage director Patrick Hughes to move away from trying to make comedies, he's just not very good at it.

3/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

So I Married An Axe Murderer (1993)

AKA the Mike Myers movie that many people forget about because he's not being Wayne or Austin Powers or Shrek.

So I Married An Axe Murderer seemed to come and go without much fuss back in 1993. I'm not sure if it was considered a flop at the time, but it certainly didn't set the box office alight. That's a shame because this is a very enjoyable comedy with some great characters, a decent cast and a constant supply of decent chuckles.

Myers stars as Charlie Mackenzie, a man obviously afraid of commitment. His friend, Tony (Anthony LaPaglia), can testify to this and tries to get Charlie to see the error of his ways, to no avail. Charlie comes up with all kinds of reasons to explain why his ex-girlfriends became ex-girlfriends (one was a kleptomaniac, one smelled of soup). Circumstances change for the better when he meets Harriet (Nancy Travis). As the relationship blossoms, Charlie tries to put his usual behaviour behind him, but when he reads up about a killer named "Mrs. X", a murderous bride who has been killing her husbands on their honeymoon, he starts to wonder if the lady he loves might not have a very dark and dangerous side. And as he tries to dispel his worries, more and more circumstantial evidence starts piling up.

Well, well, well, I did not realise the negativity surrounding this movie until researching how it was received before writing this review. This seems to be a mixture of people wanting to take Myers down a peg or two after the huge success of Wayne's World and the star also starting to slip into the bad habits that would develop in later years (his penchant for playing multiple characters, in particular, also known nowadays as "doing a Murphy"). Writer Robbie Fox was understandably a bit miffed when it was claimed that the script was changed so much that he should consider a "story by" and co-screenplay credit. Mind you, Neil Mullarkey ended up getting no credit, despite working on a lot of the content. Director Thomas Schlamme found the shoot difficult, but also praised Myers for his total commitment (how ironic, considering the theme of the movie).

Whatever the mood behind the scenes, all that matters to viewers is what ended up being caught on camera and I think that So I Married An Axe Murderer is a fine little comedy. The script, by whoever you want to give the credit to, is full of amusing one-liners and great exchanges and Schlamme moves everything along nicely, helped by a typically upbeat selection of pop songs.

The cast have a lot of fun. Myers isn't at his most comfortable playing someone who is so "normal" but he gets to make up for that in the scenes in which he plays his own father, Stuart, a hilariously stereotypical Scotsman who spends a lot of the movie insulting his other son (Matt Doherty) for having an oversized "heid". Brenda Fricker is also very good as May Mackenzie, Charlie's mother who often gets carried away in the company of Anthony LaPaglia. Speaking of LaPaglia, he's just fine, whether he's asking his boss (Alan Arkin) to be more like a movie police captain or whether he's trying to commandeer a vehicle from a reluctant member of the public (Charles Grodin). Nancy Travis is very good in the role of Harriet (she's a lot better here than she was in those Three Men & A Baby/Little Lady movies). The cast also includes Amanda Plummer having a lot of fun and very small roles for Phil Hartman and Debi Mazar, all are great.

I don't expect too many people to wholeheartedly agree with me on this one, but I hope that at least some people enjoy themselves with a film that, in my opinion, was given some unfairly harsh treatment upon its initial release.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Married-Murderer-Blu-ray-Region-Free/dp/B00171EEAI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1359910468&sr=8-2