Is there such thing as being “too self-deprecating?” Asking for a friend.
Kevin Hart has made an entire career out of self-deprecation; this has been winning move for a number of reasons: the man is funny and funnier still when he cites or demonstrates his own short-comings; we accept his on-screen behavior as an apology for his off-screen behavior (which hasn’t been exemplary). And yet mostly this move in a win because the man stands just 5’ 2” which is approaching hobbit stature. When you’re shorter than every leading lady in the biz, you need to have a sense of humor about it, which he does.
The $1 M question is: when does self-deprecation become a drawback? Even through a painful decade of Kevin Hart cosplay involving cavemen and chicken outfits, I don’t believe we’d reached that point until now. In The Man from Toronto, Kevin delves into his very familiar loser territory, but this time is juxtaposed opposite a pure professional assassin. The Man from Toronto (Woody Harrelson) is a mercenary enforcer of such renown the underworld all fears him. By contrast, Teddy (Hart … I feel like 80% of Hart’s characters are named “Teddy,” am I wrong?), has been fired from his job as a gym assistant. Actually, I have no idea if this was a real job was because the reason for termination cited Teddy’s actions didn’t get any butts in the doors. Teddy’s flyers failed to include gym address or phone number … so does that mean he was “hired” as a marketing consultant? Given the capacity of the work, wouldn’t that be strictly a contract job? How do you get fired from a contract marketing job? Don’t they just say “that didn’t work; we’re going in another direction?” That’s not really getting fired.
I digress. At heart [read: “Hart”], Teddy is a fitness guru, and a really bad one at that. His self-improvement videos are garbage and his latest coup: “non-contact boxing” is a guaranteed DOA. He’s also a huge screw up. Speaking of which, his wife Lori (Jasmine Mathews) is not. For her birthday, Teddy opts for day spa, but has failed to verify any of the pertinent information, including the address; inadvertently, he stumbles upon an FBI sting operation
and is mistaken for The Man from Toronto.
In typical movie fashion, Teddy has to continue being The Man from Toronto so that the FBI can continue to target the kingpin. But Teddy has no idea how to act like a man who can hold down employment of any kind, much less a world renowned assassin. Naturally, all of this upsets the genuine Man from Toronto and pretty soon we have “buddy” picture of sorts with one certified loser, and one pissed off-the-grid highly skilled professional working together.
This movie is a nice try – Harrelson and Hart probably make for a decent odd-couple with a better script, but the comedy really doesn’t work here. For one thing, there is no good reason why Toronto puts up with Teddy’s nonsense. Try, for instance, imagining you’re a computer programmer under deadline and you’ve been saddled with a random ice-cream-smeared, keyboard-addicted, ADHD child of five and see how long you’d put up with that. For another, “The Man from Toronto” is too awkward to keep saying aloud unless you’re going somewhere with it. Both of these problems get resolved in Act III when the film picks up steam, but by then it seems like “too little too late.” And by “too little,” I mean “five-foot-two-little.” There might have been a good film here, but this wasn’t it.
In a job calling for less action than truth
Do we need a hitter who’s -less of ruth?
Toronto, quite a thrill
But perhaps overkill
This called for The Man from Duluth
Rated PG-13, 110 Minutes
Director: Patrick Hughes
Writer: Robbie Fox, Chris Bremner
Genre: The tired new-buddies trope
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Men from Toronto?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Genuine enforcers, I imagine
