Commentary

FILM REVIEW: The Upside

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Kevin Hart fans may think that this role of an underling is beneath their favorite comedy actor. Instead they should view it as an opportunity to see him show more than his class-clown approach to performing. Thrown into the deep-sea depths of a dramedy, Mr. Hart proves he can swim just fine.

Published

8 years ago

January 8, 2019

Oakland Post

By Dwight Brown NNPA News Wire Film Critic

On paper, a story about a low-income black health-care aid who’s befriended by a rich white male quadriplegic sounds suspect. Patronizing films like Driving Miss Daisy come to mind, and potential filmgoers upon hearing the plotline may feel anxious, angry and nauseous all at the same time.

On-screen, The Upside, an American remake of the 2011 Cesar-winning French blockbuster called Les Untouchables, which launched the career Omar Sy (Jurassic World, X-Men: Days of Future Past), is iffy but still quite touching. Three-dimensional compelling performances by Bryan Cranston (that’s to be expected) and Kevin Hart (a welcome surprise) are its saving grace.

Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston co-star in The Upside

Kevin Hart fans may think that this role of an underling is beneath their favorite comedy actor. Instead they should view it as an opportunity to see him show more than his class-clown approach to performing. Thrown into the deep-sea depths of a dramedy, Mr. Hart proves he can swim just fine.

Dell (Hart), a young man with a criminal past is behind on his child support payments; pity his wife (Aja Naomi King, The Birth of a Nation) and son (Jahi Di’Allo Winston, The New Edition Story). He needs a job and money in a bad way. Dell haphazardly gets a position as a caregiver for a wheelchair-bound millionaire, author Phillip (Cranston), a grief-stricken widower. Queue the violins! How rich is he? Only boxer Floyd Mayweather has more high-end cars in his garage.

Dell’s budding relationship with Mr. Moneybags is heavily scrutinized by a snoopy secretary, Yvonne (Nicole Kidman). Yet, the two men learn a lot from each other (apparently opera music is not so bad, and Aretha’s Franklin’s voice can light up a room) and a friendship forms.

Screenwriter Jon Hartmere takes the real-life experience of Tunisian-born French businessman Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, who became a diabetic quadriplegic in 1993 after a paragliding accident and Americanizes it. The social and racial dynamics in the U.S. are different that those in France (more progressive), so the entire premise feels passé—boarding on offensive—even with a modern New York setting. That said, the nuts and bolts of the screenplay are short on sentimentality and long on the viable bromance.

Bryan Cranston, Nicole Kidman, Kevin Hart star in The Upside

Director Neil Burger (Divergent) knows when to pepper scenes with comic moments and when to season lightly with pathos. Nothing on-screen is awful, but not much stands out: musical score, Rob Simonsen; cinematography, Stuart Dryburgh; editing Naomi Geraghty; and production design Mark Friedberg.

Performances by Cranston and particularly Hart save this film from the trash heap. The former eats drama for breakfast. Crusty, scruffy roles in Trumbo and TV’s Breaking Bad chart the Oscar-nominated actor’s rise into the upper echelon of serious actors. His interpretation of the lost-in-angst Phillip is just another well-conceived portrayal.

Hart, a standup comic who churns out comic movie roles as if he’s in a factory that has to meet a deadline, is a different story. Working his way through the Ride Along franchise, Think Like a Manand The Wedding Ringer didn’t prep him for weighty roles. Yet somehow, he manages to dig deep enough to delve into both sides of Dell: the hustler, the caring friend. Scam artist traits are in Hart’s wheelhouse. The more sensitive moments with Phillip require nuances in emotion that he manages to summon quite nicely. It makes you wonder where his career could go if he took more artistic chances. Is Othello in his future? Not likely. But judging from what’s on view, he’s only scraped the surface of his full potential.

If prospective moviegoers can’t get past the film’s premise, so be it. If they can, they’ll watch a shallow film become a touch deeper because Cranston and Hart create an authentic chemistry.

The syrupy sweet Les Untouchables won France’s highest film honor, a César Award, and so did Omar Sy. It’s unlikely that The Upside will achieve such accolades. But the performances by Cranston and especially Hart certainly rate praise.

Visit NNPA News Wire Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com and BlackPressUSA.com.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

The Wakanda One Village Project: African Union Ambassador Promotes Diaspora Homecomings

Don't Miss

J5 Founders’ Day Weekend Takeover Houston

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 29 – August 4, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 29 – August 4, 2026

Published

3 hours ago

August 1, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Black History

OP-ED: ‘The Trusted Messenger’ and the Black Vote

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Now, as we approach one of the most important Midterm elections in the history of this nation, it appears that, once again, the Black Press will be expected to carry the message about voter turnout, while political and campaign dollars go to the White mainstream media.

Published

3 days ago

July 29, 2026

bpusa-syndication

It is a well-established fact that the Black Press is and always has been the “Trusted Messenger” of the Black community. With that being said, it is also very interesting that when many political organizations and donors decided to support Voter Registration and Get Out The Vote, those donors gave their dollars predominantly to Black organizations like the Urban League, the NAACP, the League of Voters, and other nonprofit groups. Those groups will prepare and send out press releases about such voter participation efforts since Black people were responsible primarily for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

What is most interesting is that those press releases rarely find their way onto CNN or the major news networks. Those press releases and calls to Black voter participation are carried in the Black Press. However, the dollars that support those press releases being written, nor the ads that carry the message of those releases, reach the Black Press. Historically, the dollars behind those messages do not find their way to the very Black Press that carries those messages.

Now, as we approach one of the most important Midterm elections in the history of this nation, it appears that, once again, the Black Press will be expected to carry the message about voter turnout, while political and campaign dollars go to the White mainstream media.

Those who are spending the billions of dollars that will go to Campaign Finance appear to have forgotten that elections are won and lost on a single vote.

Now is the time to remind the candidates, the political Initiatives and Propositions that will appear on the ballots across this nation, that the Black Vote must not be taken for granted. It does not belong to any particular political party or interest group. It can not be judged by whether it exists in a Blue or Red State.

The Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and supporters of Initiatives should not assume that our votes are unimportant.

Elections are won on a single vote.

The United States Supreme Court in Reynolds vs. Sims, 1964. That case established the ‘One Person, One Vote” rule. The rule in that case made it mandatory to base legislative seats on population within districts rather than on geography, and guaranteed Equal Protection coverage under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

That principle has not been abolished, and neither should we act as if our one vote does not count. Let us not forget our own values, and we look toward the Midterm elections. The “Trusted Messenger” can make the difference.