In the 1988 Calgary Olympics, British ski jumper āEddie the Eagleā Edwards was dubbed āMr. Magooā by the press for his thick glasses and clumsy performance ā and he loved it. A record setter by virtue of being the only Brit in his field, the affable šEddie was a hit with fans. I doubt that will be the case with this version of his story, a bland ušnderdog fable whose comedy never makes it off the bunny slopes.
Handsome Taron Egerton (āKingsman: The Secret Serviceā) uglies up to play the homely Eddie, which mainly involvesļ·ŗ wearing glasses and scrunching up his face. This results in his looking, a little creepily, like an adult version of the kid in āź§Jerry Maguire.ā
Eddie is aš single-minded fellow who lives only to be in the Olympics, despite having wonky knees and zero physical grace. No work or women or even casual conversation for Eddie, who lives with his parents (Keith Allen and Jo Hartley) and comes off at times as a British Forrest Gump. He chooses ski jumping due to its nonexistent representation on the UK team, and sets off to achieve his dream despite the long odds.
Hugh Jšackman, as a (fictional) former American jumper named Bronson Peary, enlivens things a little. Now a cranky alcoholic, Bronsonās reluctantly drawn into coaching by Eddie, who faceplants in front of his snowplow rig and asks for a tip: āHow do you land?ā
Jackman and Egerton have reasonable comic chemistry, but the film has them dutifully repeating the same paces: Eddie falls, Bronson grumbles; Bronson coaches wź¦«hile grumbling, Eddie improves. Itās all set to a very synthy ā80s score, which matches the neon ski parkas of the era nicely.
Director Dexter Fletcher (āSunshine on Leithā) also gets poš¦©ints for sheer weirdness with a Christopher Walken cameo; playing Bronsonās fāormer coach, he seems to have wandered on from the adjoining set of a mob movie.
For anļæ½ļæ½y kid whoās been told theyāre not good enough, āEddieź§ā would make a fine feel-good curative. Anyone else, though, may find this eagle never really takes off.