The Upside
STX Entertainment | Release Date: January 11, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
23
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 14, 2019
The film’s predictability is offset by what Hart and Cranston bring to the proceedings. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 10, 2019
French cinema has a lot going for it, but the one thing Americans do best is story. And so “Intouchables,” now The Upside, has a story that finally works. Read full review
70
Screen DailyAllan HunterSep 16, 2017
In the end, The Upside is the sum of its good players and dubious politics, wrenching genuine tears from a story that celebrates the rich promise of life in all its shades of joy and heartbreak. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerSep 16, 2017
The pairing of Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart in the lead roles pays off big time, with more laugh-out-loud moments than the original and some particularly hilarious work from Hart, who steps up his game after his fun if broad-minded performances in Get Hard and the Ride Along movies. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJan 14, 2019
The racial politics feel almost willfully retro, but the actors’ charisma cuts through: Forced to work strictly from the neck up, Cranston is just the right amount of gruff; Hart, aside from a deeply unnecessary catheter scene, gives a gratifyingly prickly and vulnerable performance. Somewhere beneath this passable-enough Upside, there’s a better, sharper movie for them both. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 11, 2019
The Upside is a movie that somehow works, at least some of the time, even when it shouldn’t. Read full review
67
Original-CinKim HughesJan 10, 2019
While entertaining, The Upside lacks the original film’s fizzy spark, the prickly charisma of its co-stars, and the tantalizingly sense that this incredible story — which is actually true — happened on a planet we would recognize as our own. Read full review
63
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonFeb 5, 2019
Even if you haven’t seen The Intouchables, you have a pretty good idea where the drama is headed. Still, The Upside nonetheless does an amiable job of taking you there, thanks to hard work by the two leads. Read full review
63
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJan 11, 2019
The Upside has a downside: We’ve seen it a million times before. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyJan 10, 2019
What makes The Upside work as well as it often does is how the actors are able to convey the unlikely affinity these unlikely people share. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJan 7, 2019
Cranston and Hart fight tooth and nail to keep the film as charming as possible, though, with Hart going to particularly impressive lengths. It almost works, until you remember it shouldn't. Read full review
60
Paste MagazineOktay Ege Kozak Jan 17, 2019
It’s endearing to see Burger change his typically harsh tone to create a story awash with such positivity. And just like its French original, The Upside is fairly superficial, but warm enough for the studio dumping ground known as January. One could do a lot worse. Read full review
60
EmpireIan FreerJan 14, 2019
It doesn’t do anything different from the original, but the upside to The Upside is two strong, winning performances that keep you going down a well worn path. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJan 10, 2019
Some squinting will be required to block out the race and class stereotyping, as well as the puddles of sentiment scattered throughout the highly predictable plot. Yet Jon Hartmere’s script has genuinely funny moments and is blessedly short on crassness. Read full review
60
The GuardianJordan HoffmanSep 16, 2017
This is not much more than a light crowdpleaser, but when you’ve got two powerhouse performers like this it is very difficult not to find oneself at least temporarily charmed. Read full review
50
The Film StageBrian RoanJan 26, 2019
Hart and Cranston seem committed and work their magic to sometimes allow the movie to spring to life. Read full review
50
The PlaylistKimber MyersJan 11, 2019
Though anchored by strong performances that ultimately make it watchable, the surrounding film stumbles along thanks to a bumbling script that’s devoid of any originality. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaJan 11, 2019
That more or less is The Upside in a nutshell. It’s a film that contains complicated, sad, interesting ideas rarely expressed on screen — even Kidman’s scold character unfolds into a more intriguing person, full of contradictions — but whose package is fundamentally unsuited to showcase those ideas, like a sweater with the holes in all the wrong places. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 10, 2019
Hart delivers a sincere and relatively low-key performance as Dell, but he’s playing an all-too-familiar movie stereotype. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenJan 10, 2019
The picture’s ultimate destination is marked with an obviousness so bright it can be seen from space. Read full review
50
TimeStephanie ZacharekJan 10, 2019
Neither great nor terrible. It quavers in that middle ground of pictures you think you might watch on a plane someday, and you could make a worse choice. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 9, 2019
The upside of The Upside is that Hart’s fans will find just enough here to warrant the ticket price. Read full review
50
TheWrapCandice FrederickJan 9, 2019
For what it’s worth, The Upside is exactly what you think it is: the latest Hollywood effort that aims to show that a black man and a white man with seemingly nothing in common can see past their differences and develop a mutual friendship. It’s just as pat and basic as it looks and sounds. Read full review
50
VarietyScott TobiasSep 16, 2017
So little has been done to update or refresh “The Intouchables” for American culture or a new audience that The Upside has no integrity as a separate piece of work. The casting alone is all that’s keeping it from sinking into a cynical act of franchise burnishing. Read full review
50
IndieWireEric KohnSep 16, 2017
No surprises here, folks; just half-hearted punchlines and unadventurous sentimentality readymade for marketplace consumption. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJan 10, 2019
The rest is feel-good painted unenthusiastically by numbers: a repetitive series of artificially inflated character conflicts and tossed-off resolutions, interspersed with slapstick and jokes about prissy rich snobs, ultimately adding up to far less than the sum of its well-worn parts. Read full review
42
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerJan 10, 2019
Although its leads find the odd moment of charm together, even Kidman in what’s somehow the worst-shaded part of all three, The Upside fumbles far too often when it attempts to enlighten or edify its audience. Read full review
40
Film ThreatBobby LePireJan 22, 2019
It helps immensely that Hart and Cranston play off each other well; or at least when the script is not getting in their way. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJan 14, 2019
Nicole Kidman, as good as she is, is given little to do in a one-note role, but fares better than Julianna Margulies who appears merely in a one-scene role. Kevin Hart’s huge number of fans may push this film to early box-office success but eventually they are likely to toss it into the untouchable pile. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJan 13, 2019
This sluggish US remake trades the generous charm of Sy’s affable screen presence for the niggling irritation of Kevin Hart. Everything that was already wrong with the original film – its sentimentality, its simplicity – is magnified. Read full review
40
Rolling StoneDavid FearJan 11, 2019
It’s a mediocrity no matter when you release it. Read full review
40
Time OutCath ClarkeJan 11, 2019
This really is an incredibly cheesy remake—the original was already pretty cheesy—starring Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart, doing their best with a script that cranks out all the odd-couple movie clichés. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicGarrett MitchellJan 10, 2019
Despite their palpable comedic chops, Hart and Cranston are unable to make this unlikely and stereotypical pair likable. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 10, 2019
The film as a whole never takes flight, though not for lack of trying. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJan 10, 2019
It’s a hollow replica of its source material. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDerek SmithJan 9, 2019
The film becomes overrun by an increasingly preachy and tiresome series of life lessons about race, class, and love. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedJan 11, 2019
Jumping, jerking and bellowing all over the screen, the same cannot be said for Kevin Hart. He may have garnered a few laughs telling homophobic jokes in his old stand-up comedy routine, but when it comes to playing a completely realized character in a full-length film, he’s as funny as a case of shingles. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJan 10, 2019
The Upside was probably never going to be a good movie, but it needn’t have been such an unfortunate, spectacularly ill-timed one, the victim of circumstances it ultimately has neither the wit nor the imagination to transcend. Read full review
20
The GuardianPeter BradshawJan 10, 2019
The whole affair is misjudged and sickly sweet. Read full review
12
The Associated PressMark KennedyJan 9, 2019
Few films in memory have squandered so much acting talent in such a cliche-ridden, exploitative and dishonest way. Read full review
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