THE UPSIDE (2017) – My rating: 7.5/10

The Upside is a comedy-drama directed by Neil Burger and written by Jon Hartmere. It is a remake of the French 2011 film, The Intouchables, which was itself inspired by the life of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo.  The film follows a paralyzed billionaire who hires a recently paroled convict as a caregiver.  I was quite anxious to see The Upside but became waylaid by all the bad reviews.  I decided to see it anyway, before it left the theaters and I’m glad I did.  I felt the movie was well done and quite entertaining.

The Upside opens with Dell Scott (Kevin Hart) and Philip Lacasse (Bryan Cranston) speeding through New York City in a Ferrari. After they are pulled over by the police, Dell makes up a story that convinces the officers he is rushing Philip to the emergency room. Philip grudgingly plays along, and instead of being issued a ticket, the two are escorted to the hospital by the police.

Rewind six months earlier to where the recently paroled Dell is ordered to obtain three signatures to prove he is seeking a job. He appears to answer several ads pretending he wants employment but is only seeking the signatures he needs to keep from violating his parole.  When Dell visited the penthouse home of Philip, a wealthy quadriplegic, his search for a befitting job was finally over. Philip, along with his assistant Yvonne Pendleton (Nicole Kidman), is interviewing candidates for the position of his “life auxiliary” caregiver. After waiting behind a couple of other highly qualified applicants, Dell barges in and demands a signature for his parole officer. For unexplainable reasons, intrigued by Dell, Philip offers him the job, but he declines. After leaving such a lush residence, Dell visits his ex, Latrice (Aja Naomi King) and son Anthony (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) at their dilapidated apartment, but neither is interested in him rejoining their lives, so he gives his son a book he stole from Philip’s library and leaves. Desperate to turn his life around, Dell accepts the well-paying position of Philip’s live-in caregiver, for which Yvonne establishes a “three strikes and you’re out” rule. Dell is daunted by his new responsibilities, despite guidance from Philip’s physical therapist Maggie (Golshifteh Farahani) but forges on anyway.

The Upside shows life between the haves and the have nots.  Even though Philip is a quadriplegic, he had more money than JZ, which makes him a very, very rich individual.  Dell, having no caregiver experience, was dirt poor with an estranged baby mama and their son.  Because The Upside is based on a true story, I can’t say the likelihood of this scenario happening is one in a million or who knows, maybe I can, we’ve just not heard of any similar cases.  The movie was moving, funny and semi-quasi emotional.  The relationship between Philip and Dell was complicated, at best.  There were a lot of Kevin Hart dynamics displayed throughout the film and I think this was certainly one of Kevin’s better performances.  Speaking of being qualified for a job, I felt Nicol Kidman was over qualified for her role, which in my opinion, didn’t require such an experience actress.  It is interesting to see how the story develops and how relationships were mended and how a win, lose situation became a win, win for everyone.  I think The Upside is definitely worth seeing, Check It Out!

NOTE:  Although The Upside was filmed in 2017, it wasn’t released in the United States until January 11, 2019 because it was originally suppose to be distributed by The Weinstein Company in March 2018, however the film was shelved and sold off following the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations.

Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral (2019) – My rating: 4.5/10

“Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral” is a comedy written, directed, and produced by Tyler Perry. It is the eleventh and final installment of the Madea film series. The movie follows a joyous family reunion that becomes a hilarious nightmare when Madea and the crew travel to backwoods Georgia, where they find themselves unexpectedly planning a funeral that might unveil some ugly family secrets. In my opinion, this is the worse movie Tyler Perry has ever made. I was actually sorry I went to see it.

Right from the onset of “A Madea Family Funeral”, the jokes started flying, the problem is the jokes were not that funny. I felt the plot was downright ridiculous and unrealistic, plus Mabel “Madea” Simmons (Tyler Perry), used old theatrics e.g., using his male voice and asides that worked well in the Madea plays, to deliver hilarious lines but didn’t work on the big screen. Anthony (Derek Morgan) died while having sex with his mistress (Tiffany Black) who happens to be a good friend of Anthony’s family. The team, Madea, Aunt Bam (Cassi Davis) and Hattie (Patrice Lovely), tried to withhold this devastating secret from Vianne (Jen Harper), Anthony’s wife, which made for a failing hush-hush operation. Any normal person would have noticed the whole presentation was bogus but for the comedy to work, Vianne missed the entire point, making the premise of the film a downtrodden disaster.

AJ (Courtney Burrell) seemed to be the focus of the film. He is the son of Anthony and Vianne, the brother of Silvia (Ciera Payton), Jesse (Rome Flynn) and the husband of Carol (KJ Smith), who he not only cheated on but abused verbally. BTW, the woman AJ cheated with is his brother’s fiancé, Gia (Aeriél Miranda). The remainder of the story is so ridiculous, I am at a loss for words. For some reason, Tyler introduced a new character into the mix with no legs named Heathrow who cannot talk without a device pressed to his throat.  This is supposed to be Tyler Perry’s last Madea movie. I’m not sure with the kind of money Madea pulls in ($27M opening weekend box office) that this is really going to be the end but according to Rotten Tomatoes (1), it should be! As much as I’ve always loved Tyler Perry and his beloved character, Madea, I have to warn you not to waste your time or money on this one, it’s really bad! Don’t Check It Out!