Exactly how far would YOU go to prove you are innocent of a crime? Assault a police officer? Arrange a heist? Stand on the ledge of a building 17 stories up while a helicopter hovers nearby, threatening to whoosh you right off? Now that I’ve basically summed up the plot of “Man on a Ledge”, let’s discuss if it’s worth seeing, or if you will spend 90 minutes wishing YOU could jump off a tall building.
THE GOOD: An ex-cop turned fugitive, Nick Cassidy (played by Sam Worthington) has been framed for a crime he didn’t commit and in an effort to prove it,he stands on a ledge outside a high rise hotel, threatening to jump unless he can prove to the world that he is innocent. NYPD negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) is called in to assist in talking him down, but soon realizes that his plan may just be a distraction for something else happening. It’s a mildly intriguing story, and Worthington does a fine job portraying a man who is desperate to restore his good name. David Englander (played by Ed Harris) is the man Cassidy claims has framed him for the theft of Englanders prize jewel, and it’s his theory that Englander still has the jewel in his possession that fuels his plans to arrange a break-in and prove that the jewel was never stolen. There is a fair amount of momentum in the first half of the film, interspersed with comedic relief from Cassidy’s little brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and his girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) who clearly takes her cues from the Jersey Shore gang, but manages to throw out a few zippy one liners nonetheless. This is a movie that will have you rooting for the bad guy, because it’s clear he’s really a good guy in disguise…..you want him to have his honor restored to him, so you keep your fingers crossed that all will go according to plan, no matter how unlikely that plan may be.
THE BAD: As previously mentioned, the storyline is one with potential. I was certainly drawn in by the possibility that an innocent man had been framed and lost everything he valued, including time with his dying father. I appreciated the concept of someone taking control of a situation that was unjust and doing whatever was necessary to make it right, instead of putting their head down and giving up. And I especially like action/suspense films where a little humor is thrown in, just to take the edge off once in a while. The problem I found was that the writer’s seemed to struggle with finding that line in between. I found myself laughing at parts that I’m not so sure were intended to be funny, but they struck me as ridiculous, so laugh I did. For example, what exactly was the point of having a big name star like Kyra Sedgewick play a small obnoxious role of t.v. reporter Susie Morales-who rolls that R in her last name with passion every time she signs off– in this film? It was almost as if she had auditioned for the part of the negotiator (and would have been brilliant at it, I might add) but because the casting department felt so guilty about not giving it to her, they made up a part for her. That’s how it felt to me anyway. And, although I will admit to liking the storyline-as improbable and somewhat murky as it sometimes was-the real disappointment to me was the final moments when apparently the writer’s said to each other “Look, we all know how this is gonna turn out, and I’ve got Curbside to Go from Applebee’s and American Idol on Tivo waiting for me…let’s just wrap this up” To say that the final scene was a letdown and entirely too neat and tidy for my liking would pretty much sum it up.
THE UGLY: Now, there will inevitably be some debate on this next point, based entirely on your gender and what you look for in a movie—but I would have to say that the low point for me personally was the fact that someone felt the need to dress Genesis Rodriguez—queen of Long Island—in the lowest cut shirt possible to pull off a robbery. This wasn’t just pandering to what I’m sure the director assumed would be a predominantly male audience—it was so distracting, you literally couldn’t look away. I think at one point I made a comment to my husband that I would think her hair hanging in her eyes would bother her, and I believe his comment to me was “She has EYES?”—you see where I’m going with this. And it was an all out laughable moment, when they had her strip down to her Fredrick’s of Hollywood’s in order to put on a skin tight Mission Impossible suit to climb through an air vent—as if a lacy thong is going to actually fit inside THAT. Please.
“Man on a Ledge” isn’t going to win any awards or praise for being the best of anything—it ends up being a mildly entertaining way to spend a Friday night, but at least you won’t feel like flinging yourself off a building.
