Eddie the Eagle

Inspired by true events, this is the inspirational—if not entirely accurate—story of how Michael “Eddie” Edwards (Taron Egerton) became a world-record-holding British ski jumper at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. Wearing a knee brace as a child, enthusiastic, bespectacled Eddie displays an alarming lack of athletic prowess, yet he is determined to compete in the Olympics. After realizing that he is woefully incompetent at every track-and-field event, Eddie learns to ski. Brusquely dismissed from Great Britain's downhill team, Eddie decides to try ski-jumping instead. A gullible novice, he journeys to Germany, where he's ridiculed by Finnish and Norwegian jumpers who have been training since they were six years old. But then Eddie meets Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman), a drunken, depressed, and disillusioned one-time U.S. ski-jumping star, now working as a snowplow driver. Sensing Eddie's innate bravery and tenacity, Peary decides to coach him—albeit reluctantly—if only to prevent Eddie from recklessly killing himself. An uplifting, feel-good underdog film that is also heavy-handedly directed by Dexter Fletcher—who overemphasizes Eddie's dorkiness—Eddie the Eagle also features Jo Hartley and Keith Allen as Eddie's superficially sketched parents, and a superb Jim Broadbent as a patrician British broadcaster. Incidentally, Jackman's character (among others) is entirely fictional; the real Eddie Edwards trained with coaches in Lake Placid, NY. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “Let the Games Begin: Soaring” behind-the-scenes featurette (47 min.), a gallery, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a formulaic bio-pic.] (S. Granger)