Film Review: ‘Eddie the Eagle’ is Predictable But Pleasant Tale

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CHICAGO – “Eddie The Eagle” is thoroughly predictable underdog story, but this picture won me over with a plucky persistence fitting for its peculiar protagonist. It’s an admittedly minor but mostly true tale of an oddball outsider overcoming overwhelming odds.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

“Eddie The Eagle” was a not terribly talented but incredibly motivated British ski jumper who managed to compete in the 1988 Winter Olympics. He made the British Olympic team because no other British athletes had even thought to compete in that particular sport.

Taron Egerton, from last year’s surprisingly enjoyable “The Kingsman,” stars as Eddie. He’s a milk drinking, awkward, sexless nerd outfitted with giant dorky glasses and a wisp of a mustache. Egerton juts out his chin, hunches his back and perpetually seems on the verge of letting his glasses slip off his nose entirely. But he captures what made people like Eddie in the first place – what he lacks in talent he makes up for in oddball charm and his stubborn refusal to give up.

Continue reading for Spike Walter’s full review of “Eddie the Eagle”

Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman in ‘Eddie the Eagle’
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox

Continue reading for Spike Walter’s full review of “Eddie the Eagle”