I liked this film a lot: it knows exactly what it wants to be and gets on with delivering a family-friendly feel-good story with a great central "odd-couple" buddy pairing of Egerton and Jackson.
The script takes the real-life story of Eddie the Eagle, adds a few dramatic embellishments and maps it to a pretty standard "underdog makes good" narrative. In that sense it's all quite familiar, with some pretty stock characters at the periphery (the villainous Finns; the establishment suits who want to hold working-class Eddie down etc.) and predictable character arcs for the chief protagonists. However, the simple storytelling benefits the film, which is more about pleasing the audience with fun, warm characters and feel-good moments as Eddie overcomes the various stumbling blocks en route to his inevitable success. Done well, this kind of thing can be really satisfying, and this is a rare example of achieving that without coming off trite.
Enjoyable performances, bags of heart and a nice warm smattering of nostalgia: lovely.
The script takes the real-life story of Eddie the Eagle, adds a few dramatic embellishments and maps it to a pretty standard "underdog makes good" narrative. In that sense it's all quite familiar, with some pretty stock characters at the periphery (the villainous Finns; the establishment suits who want to hold working-class Eddie down etc.) and predictable character arcs for the chief protagonists. However, the simple storytelling benefits the film, which is more about pleasing the audience with fun, warm characters and feel-good moments as Eddie overcomes the various stumbling blocks en route to his inevitable success. Done well, this kind of thing can be really satisfying, and this is a rare example of achieving that without coming off trite.
Enjoyable performances, bags of heart and a nice warm smattering of nostalgia: lovely.