The Upside is about a recently paroled ex-convict (Kevin Hart) who ends up working for a quadriplegic dude (Bryan Cranston) who is crazy rich, and that’s the real star of this flick, money, and the shit you can buy with it. Being a quadriplegic is no party, but being a quadriplegic with a pile of money is better. A bomb-ass penthouse apartment, for example, a setting which is exploited to the fullest in this film, giant rooms with floor-to ceiling windows, vestibules, hallways, high ceilings, terraces, double-sink bathrooms, along with the Bryan Cranston character’s multimillion-dollar Contemporary Art collection, a million bucks worth of art hanging on every wall in every goddamn room of the place, and a row of shiny high-end collectible automobiles. It’s nice to have lots of money. Seriously, look at the list of art in the credits for the movie:
UNTITLED BY PAUL BONET
HIGHWAY #1 BY EDWARD BURTYNSKY
SPRING BREAK BY HELEN FRANKENTHALER
WHITE IMPATIENS BY ALEX KATZ
GOTHIC LANDSCAPE BY LEE KRASNER
TAXI BY SAUL LEITER
WALL PAINTING WITH STRIPES BY ROBERT MOTHERWELL
REPLICA STANDARD STATION, AMARILLO, TEXAS BY ED RUSCHA
COME AWAY FROM HER BY KIKI SMITH
FERRAGOSTO IV BY CY TWOMBLY
ANENOME BY ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE
NEW YORK CITY, 1975 BY JOEL MEYEROWITZ
IN-N-OUT BY MARILYN MINTER
BEDROOM MOBILE BY MARCO MAHLER
This film is based on a real-life story somebody already made into a movie, Les Intouchables, but they made that movie in France, so it’s as if it never existed, no offense. The United States of America version is/was a Weinstein Company film, and the company’s credit has been scrubbed from the movie and replaced by corporate successor Lantern Entertainment, which bought all the Weinstein properties in a bankruptcy sale. Two hundred eighty-nine million dollars got Lantern Entertainment’s name on this movie, where the bankrupt Weinstein Company’s name used to be.
