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Thursday, January 26, 2012

MOVIE REVIEW
Man On A Ledge
Movie On A Ledge, Falling Off It Long Before Its Hero


Sam Worthington as Nick Cassidy in Asger Leth's drama "Man On A Ledge".  Summit Entertainment
  
by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW                                           
Thursday, January 26, 2012

Take a frantic, desperate man, an "Inside Man"-type scenario and a wobbly script by Pablo F. Fenjves and you have Asger Leth's "Man On A Ledge", a fragmented, distracted carnival of self-serious yet circus-like frivolity and mayhem that opens across the U.S. and Canada tomorrow.

Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is troubled at the start, checking into a hotel room in the Big Apple, writing a note.  Nick is harried and looking as if he wants to end it all.  An ex-cop and a man framed by circumstances for a crime by a rich financier (Ed Harris), Nick stands on a ledge in Midtown Manhattan.  A police psychologist and negotiator named Lydia (Elizabeth Banks) is brought in to talk Nick down and into common sense, but it is too bad that Mr. Leth's film lacks the same.

"Man On A Ledge" suffers from an over dramatized landscape that tries to squeeze in too many characters, including some with diverging, shady motives and abrupt changes in scenario.  The film mixes comedy and romance in places that are puzzling and misplaced (Nick's brother Joey and Angie, Joey's girlfriend, spend time making love, war and other kinds of mischief as accomplices in their own wild designs.) 

"Man On A Ledge" is similar to "The Next Three Days" (2010), which also featured Ms. Banks.  Too many things were going on in that film too, with side characters and events that made little sense.  Here, "Ledge" has a shallow rendering of its own theater, with poorly-sketched characters suddenly pin-pricked to life to reveal their true selves. 

There's Mike, a cop friend of Nick's (Anthony Mackie) who is trying to do the right thing, but he's dropped in and out of the incoherent narrative, while there's another cop (Ed Burns, witty and sharp here, but not onscreen long enough) who snipes at but reluctantly gives Lydia a chance to bring Nick off his own righteous high horse.  The film's view of Nick's sense of outrage and injustice is drummed up in an unconvincing way, and "Ledge" teeters on (and beyond) the edge of foolishness, meandering until it gets the urge to hurriedly tie up its loose ends in the final 20 minutes, only to further unravel and spiral out of control. 

Overall Mr. Leth's film isn't well thought out.  The dialogue is weak and the film showcases a display of character types that don't connect to the events surrounding them, speaking more from cardboard and robotic realms than from any rudiments in reality.  "Man On A Ledge" wants to be a lot of things: drama, thriller, revenge movie and heist caper but it's only one thing at all: a mess.

One character, television news reporter Suzie Morales -- a rather insulting, racist caricature of a Latina played by Kyra Sedgwick -- is an irritating presence (ala Sofia Vergara in "New Year's Eve") with the stereotypical oversaturated colors and red, red lipstick.  Ms. Sedgwick's character is a needless presence, designed solely for instant ridicule and comic relief, but neither she nor the character are funny.  Sideshow characters like Suzie Morales bog down Mr. Leth's film to no end, elongating and bloating it.  Even at an hour and 40 minutes, "Man On A Ledge" feels like two and a half hours.

An event near the end is laughable and ridiculous, and when all is said and done, "Man On A Ledge" lacks any compelling reason to be.  It is after all, a January movie.

With: Jamie Bell, Genesis Rodriguez, Titus Welliver, Patrick Collins, Felix Solis.

"Man On A Ledge" is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association Of America for violence and brief strong language.  The film's duration is one hour and 42 minutes.

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