The Upside 2017

     Philip Lacasse is a very wealthy man and he is interviewing people to fill the job of personal assistant.  Philip was paralyzed in a paragliding accident and he is in a wheelchair.  Everyone applying for the job appears to be qualified and capable except for Dell Scott?  Dell is only applying so he can get a signature showing that he applied for the job.  Philip wants someone different in his life and he selects Dell.  Philip’s secretary Yvonne Pendleton challenges Philip’s decision but Philip doesn’t back down on his choice.  Dell gets the job done and Philip is happy but there are some snags along the way.

     As soon as I started viewing this film, I knew it was the same plot as a French film I had watched previously titled The Intouchables.  In the beginning, I thought the French film was better but then I started to warm up to the portrayal of the characters by Hart, Cranston and Kidman.  I think both movies are very good but just different interpretations.  I could watch both of them again for further comparison of what is the same and what is changed.  This is just a wonderful story in any language.  5* (I really liked this movie) 

126 min, Drama directed by Neil Burger with Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston, Nicole Kidman, Aja Naomi King, Jahi Di’Allo Winston, Genevieve Angelson, Golshifteh Farahani, Tate Donovan, Julianna Marguilies, Suzanne Savoy, Michael Quinlan, James Georgiades, Rachel Christopher, Diego Aguirre, Fernando Mateo Jr. 

Note:  Imdb 6.8 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes 41% critic 82% audience, Roger Ebert 1 1/2* Christy Lemire, Rollingstone 2* David Fear, The Guardian 2* out of 5* Wendy Ide, Metacritic 46 out of 100 with 40 critics (11 positive, 23 mixed, 6 negative) 5.9 out of 10 with 84 user scores (42 positive 24 mixed, 18 negative), Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 376 reviews.  (Most of the negative reviews are related to Kevin Hart as an actor and not about the film?)

Special Note:  Chris Tucker, Jamie Foxx, Chris Rock and Idris Elba were considered for the role of Dell Scott.  Filmed on Gilham Street, The Kimmel Center, XIX Restaurant, East Allegheny Avenue, Sun Center Studios, Center for Architecture and Design, Kensington Avenue, 1900 JFK Boulevard, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Eckville; Black Bass Hotel, Lumberville, Pennsylvania and New York City, New York.  The French film The Intouchables of 2011 has 8.5* out of 10* on Imdb.  In Germany and The Netherlands, The Intouchables was the most successful French film in history.  The same story has also been filmed in Argentina as Inseparables 2016.  The real-life relationship between Phillippe Pozzo di Borgo and Abdel Sellou was depicted in the documentary La vie comme un roman: A la vie, a la mort of 2003.