Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart bring character to odd-couple dramedy The Upside

The Upside, an American comedy-drama film directed by Neil Burger and written by Jon Hartmere, is a remake of the French 2011 film The Intouchables, which was itself inspired by the life of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo. The film follows a paralyzed billionaire (Bryan Cranston) who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a recently paroled convict (Kevin Hart) whom he hires to take care of him. Nicole Kidman, Golshifteh Farahani, and Julianna Margulies also star.

The Upside has grossed over $27 million and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Hart and Cranston’s chemistry and performances but criticized plot for being “predictable”. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 40% from critics, based on 136 reviews with an average rating of 5.2/10. The website’s critical consensus reads, “Preachy, manipulative, and frustratingly clichéd, The Upside showcases Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart’s chemistry without ever taking full advantage of it.” On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 45 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews”.

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars and a “definite recommend” of 66%. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times writes “Hart delivers a sincere and relatively low-key performance as Dell, but he’s playing an all-too-familiar movie stereotype.”

Scott Tobias of Variety, reviewing the film after its 2017 premiere, was critical of it for failing to improve upon the original or update the story, writing, “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.” Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote “The whole affair is misjudged and sickly sweet” and gave it 1 out of 5 stars.