Fri. February 19, 2016
By Gregg Shapiro
Eddie The Eagle (20th Century Fox), the feel-bruised movie of the year, is an uplifting Brit-com in the tradition of Billy Elliott, The Full Monty and Brassed Off, in which characters beat insurmountable odds to become triumphant. Based on the true story of English Olympian Eddie Edwards, who ever since he was a lad in a leg brace due to "dodgy knees," dreamed of being an Olympian.
Beginning in England in 1973 and ending at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Canada, Eddie The Eagle traces the uphill battle of undaunted Eddie (Taron Egerton), determined to bring his questionable athletic skills to the slopes. After not making the 1984 British ski team, Eddie becomes increasingly obsessed with leaving his mark in the snow. His plasterer father would prefer that Eddie follows in his footsteps, while his mother encourages him in her own way.
Somehow, Eddie makes his way to Germany, in spite of discouragement from the British Olympic committee and begins his training in earnest. While there he encounters fictional former Olympian Bronson (Hugh Jackman in form fitting jeans), who has made a career of being a grounds caretaker and drinking himself into oblivion. Predictably, the unlikely duo teams up for the most heartwarming of underdog, or maybe under-eagle, stories. Eddie The Eagle is funny and sweet and hard to take seriously; it's a tale as tall as a mountain.
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