Movie: The Man From Toronto
Production Companies: Sony Pictures, Bron Creative, Escape Artists
Director: Patrick Hughes
Producers: Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch
Scriptwriters: Robbie Fox, Chris Bremmer
Main Cast: Kevin Hart, Woody Harrelson, Kaley Cuoco, Jasmine Matthews, Lela Loren, Pierson Fode
Release Date: June 24th 2022
Running Time: 112 minutes
Certificate: 12
Introduction
Well, they can’t all be successes can they? Despite Netflix seemingly having cornered the market on fairly decent action films, The Man From Toronto just never feels like it reaches the same ceiling as Kate, Extraction or Gunpowder Milkshake. This is in spite of a decent lead pairing of Harrelson and Hart, along with the ever brilliant Kaley Cuoco in the supporting cast, which is a shame. So, without further ado, let’s get into my review of the film.
Synopsis
The Man From Toronto centres on the classic Hollywood premise of mistaken identity. Only this time it’s a struggling fitness entrepreneur, Teddy (Hart), being mistook for a sadistic assassin after accidentally finding the wrong holiday cabin. And yes if you’ve put two and two together you can probably work out Teddy was mistaken for Woody Harrelson’s titular character: The Man From Toronto. All this ends up with the FBI convincing Teddy to keep pretending to be the Man from Toronto in order to capture a would be Venezuelan dictator, Colonel Marin.
Yeah, that alone tells exactly what sort of tone the film is going to set. And it ain’t also a lovely upbeat film, especially when Woody Harrelson’s Man from Toronto is on screen. Obviously with Teddy forced to pretend to be a ruthless assassin, this leads more assassins after him. Also, all of these assassins are called the Man from… What a weird coincidence. So, on top of the whole assassin thing, Teddy has to deal with lying to his girlfriend and hoping the real Man from Toronto doesn’t end up murdering him. So, now let’s get into the analysis portion of the review….
Analysis
The Premise of The Man From Toronto
To begin my analysis of the Man from Toronto, I’m going to discuss the film’s premise and why it fails to live up to it. So if I told you the Man from Toronto’s premise about a struggling fitness instructor being forced to impersonate a deadly assassin while said assassin is also tracking him down for a big payday, you’d probably have one of two reactions. The first reaction would be oh my lord that sounds absolutely bonkers, I need to see it.
The second reaction would probably be oh my lord what on earth is happening in this film? However, despite the insanity of the film’s premise it just never feels like the film ever lives up to the insanity of the premise. This is a shame because you can tell Hart and Harrelson are giving the film their all. And also this point about the film not living up to the premise’s insanity might also feed into a point later in the review…..
Kevin Hart’s Performance in the Man from Toronto
Continuing my analysis of the Man from Toronto, I’m going to discuss an elephant in the room: Kevin Hart’s performance. Now like most of Hart’s performances, you’re either going to love or hate his over-the-top performative nature. So, what are some times in the film where Hart really shines as Teddy? Well, take the scene where Teddy accidentally manages to get a potential victim to confess a number. This is actually somewhat brilliant as it plays into the character of Teddy because the victim clearly thinks his bumbling persona is a cover for his assassin job. Now, that is legitimately quite funny especially when the FBI find Teddy and the would-be victim in the cabin. Why is that funny? Well because of the age old film trope of the failing businessman accidently succeeding, in spite of his own shortcomings. And no that is a terrible Kevin Hart short joke…..
However, there are times where Hart’s performance isn’t quite as good. Take for example, the beginning of the film where Teddy is lying to his girlfriend about losing his advertising job. Here, Hart’s performance actively makes you hate Teddy for just not telling his girlfriend the truth when he has the opportunity. Actually, come to think of it, that might actually be a positive of Hart’s performance…
Narrative in The Man From Toronto
To conclude my analysis of the Man from Toronto, I’m going to discuss the narrative and how it over relies on contrivances in the narrative. So what are some of these narrative contrivances? Well, the events which lead Teddy to be forced to impersonate the Man from Toronto are a prime example. Now, because Teddy’s printer is running out of ink the address for his holiday cabin isn’t fully visible. So, I’m sure you can see where this ends up going….
Anyway, the fact that the entire narrative of the film seems to hinge on the main character’s printer producing a sheet which is difficult to read is more than a little flimsy. Also, while I know it’s the point of the scene, the fact Teddy doesn’t immediately think to run when he walks into ‘his’ cabin and sees a strange man who he’s never seen before is just baffling to me. Anyway, the fact that we know Teddy is eventually going to succeed in spite of lying through his teeth does somewhat undercut the narrative at points , but maybe that’s just me….
Summary
To summarise The Man From Toronto, this is a below average action film with decent performances from Hart and Harrelson. It also unfortunately fails to live up to the insanity its premise promises. But hey, if you desperately need something to watch on Netflix maybe if you’re bored just stick this on.
Rating: 5/10 – Average
Target Audience: 12+
Content Warning: Mild Sex and Nudity, Moderate Violence and Gore, Moderate Profanity, Mild Frightening and Intense Scenes.
Recommendation: No
