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Early reviews

posted 9 years ago by baj2
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AICN ( Ain't It Cool News) sponsored BNAT 17 and one of the featured movies in the marathon festival was EDDIE THE EAGLE.

Nordling (aka Alan Cerny) writes this early brief review --

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/73985?utm_source=full-feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_term=reviews&utm_campaign=1310_RSS

I was vaguely aware of the story of EDDIE THE EAGLE, Britain’s first ski jumper in over 60 years, but was unaware that a film starring Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman was even in the works. Turns out Dexter Fletcher has directed a genuine crowdpleaser here, because EDDIE THE EAGLE is a terrific movie about how one terrible athlete became an Olympic hero. We’ve all seen movies like this before; the unsung hero triumphing over adversity has been a staple of cinema since the beginning. But EDDIE THE EAGLE is so full of whimsy, charm, and humor that it overcomes those clichés to become truly effective and winning. It helps that Taron Egerton is so terrific as Eddie Edwards, and that Hugh Jackman turns in one of the coolest performances of his career as Edwards’ reluctant, drunken coach Bronson Peary. There’s a wonderful DIRTY DANCING kind of moment between Egerton and Jackman that had the BNAT audience swooning (guys included). I’ll happily see EDDIE THE EAGLE again when it opens in April. Taron Egerton won over this audience last year with KINGSMAN, and he was kind enough to come for this film and watch it with us. You could hear his laughter mixed in with ours as we experienced the film, and that BNAT memory will go logged in as a favorite.

[–] julianmarq 9 years ago

No surprise there, both of Fletcher's previous efforts are crowd pleasers... Which is more than enough for me. Can't wait for this one.

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[–] baj2 9 years ago

Another review from AICN, this time from Quint --

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/73993?utm_source=full-feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_term=coolnews&utm_campaign=1310_RSS

MOVIE #4: Eddie the Eagle

Our first premiere was a film called Eddie the Eagle, produced by Matthew Vaughn and starring Kingsman's Taron Egerton as a real life British Olympian named Eddie Edwards.

Afterwards I saw Devin Faraci tweet that the beauty of this film was that it's a sports movie about a guy who kinda stinks at sports and I don't think I could put it better than that. This film is Rudy if Rudy wasn't just too small, but also really kinda sucked at football.

Eddie is a dork and I mean that with affection. He's a bit of a doofus, kinda scrawny, totally socially awkward, but his super power is his eternal optimism. We see him as a kid and his many attempts to train himself to be an Olympian. The movie with him opens in the bathtub, holding his breath. He almost hits 1 minute, so in his mind that means he's ready to go to the Olympics.

He's got the drive, the heart, but that's about it. Turns out his calling is Ski Jumping. Again, not because he's good at it, but because nobody seems to give a *beep* about it in the UK, so literally the only thing he has to do to qualify is make one jump and sign up.

Hugh Jackman shows up as a drunk American who was a ski jumping superstar before letting ego and partying kill his career prematurely. And he's going full bore in this one, really playing up his rogue-ish charm.

This unlikely duo is the heart at the center of this absolutely charming feel-good audience-pleaser and I can't recommend it enough.

The flick isn't released until April, but make a point to see it. You won't be disappointed.