WIN OR LOSE, ALWAYS AIM HIGH.Â
Young Eddie Edwards has dreamed of being an athlete since he was a boy and decides in his early twenties to become Britain’s first Olympic ski jumper. The story of how ”Eddie the Eagle” came to endear audiences, in spite of his lack of success at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, gets its big-screen treatment… but as the actual Eddie says in interviews, 90 per cent of the film is fiction. One should rather see this as a playful, shamelessly manipulative but delightful saga steeped in 1980s details, with a very apt music score and a satisfying cast; Hugh Jackman is the standout as a (fictional) alcoholic former ski jumper who becomes Eddie’s mentor.
2016-Britain-U.S. 106 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Matthew Vaughn, Adam Bohling, Rupert Maconick, David Reid, Valerie Van Galder. Directed by Dexter Fletcher. Screenplay: Sean Macaulay, Simon Kelton. Music: Matthew Margeson. Cast: Taron Egerton (Eddie Edwards), Hugh Jackman (Bronson Peary), Christopher Walken (Warren Sharp), Mark Benton, Keith Allen, Jo Hartley… Jim Broadbent, Edvin Endre.
Last word: “There were people who did help [Eddie] along the way. And of course, you know, in a film you got six, seven, different characters who come in and play some part in that journey. It becomes confusing, and you gotta introduce someone to tell a story. So we, you know, we reduced it to one super character, which happened to be Hugh Jackman. It’s a story telling exercise. It’s fact told in a fictional way. That’s where it’s born of.” (Fletcher, Huffington Post)
