Movie Review: The Man from Toronto
- By Shargeel Sheikh -
- Jul 09, 2022
Netflix has a new chart-buster as ‘The Man From Toronto’ has shot up the charts in the US, UK, and several other countries.
“Work Hard, Punch Harder”, Teddy Nilson (Kevin Hart) is all enthusiastic and hopeful in persuading his boss Marty of the Marty’s Fitness gym in initiating the idea of non-contact boxing, an unusual boxing style where there is literally no contact and the focus is laid on stamina and cardio instead of actually hitting the other person.
“This could be the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard”, Marty disappoints Teddy and not only this, he fires him saying that he needs a closer, a man with some grit.
The character of Kevin Hart in this movie has a serious problem – he lacks attention to details. He arranges printed pamphlets for Marty’s fitness and forgets to add the address and the number. He does this multiple times. Yet he manages to sway away with his gestures and words of laughter since being portrayed by one of the best emerging comic actors in Hollywood.
Teddy is surprisingly relatable yet a peculiar character, but not as peculiar than Randy aka The Man from Toronto.
Randy is a notorious assassin who resides in a secluded unknown place and is an avid 19th century American poetry reader which also serves as many of its codes of identification. He also is weirdly attached with Debora, his 1969 Dodge charger R/T.
For motor enthusiasts and aficionados, this relation with the dodge might be palpable, but not for me. However, I do like 19th century literature.
What Randy recalls is a character from the 2000s cliché spy cartoons based on detectives, investigations and secret agents. He has been played by Woody Harrelson, who has done everything in his capacity to portray it flawlessly after being hastily signed since the first choice for the role, Jason Statham, for some reason, failed to join the cast.
When Teddy books a cottage from Airbnb for spending some quality time with his wife Lori, he prints the address of the cottage. The cottage number isn’t printed correctly. It’s a Low toner mistake that leads Teddy enter the wrong number cottage- the one in which Randy or
The Man from Toronto was supposed to be visiting.
The way these two characters meet is based on a ludicrous misunderstanding by Teddy. And what follows is, to the critiques is a caper of a journey designed to fill in the film along with not so convincing comedy and adventure.
The two very unlikely men establish a relation of friendship while Teddy continues his habit of botching things and tasks.
Kevin Hart has done his best to get away even with the lousiest dialogues and scenes. His charisma is at an all-time high in the film and maybe that’s why he is being seen as the lifesaver of what could have been the sinking ship of a project.
Woody Harrelson, the guy I remember the most from the Zombieland movie series alongside the laudable Jesse Eisenberg. He had given all too much, to a level that at times the actor can be seen exhausting while donning the role of The Man from Toronto.
Woody is certainly not an incompetent artist; the trouble lies majorly with the casting crew who I believe might have misjudged. But most of the times individuals from this department of the production get to come out scot free while the on-camera artists and the director get to be blamed. It’s a dirty political world out there after all.
Initially the shooting for the movie began in Atlanta, USA in 2020, However, the production was delayed due to the pandemic and restarted in Oct 2020. This time the location was Toronto, Canada.
Sometimes it does surprises me on certain occasions that how similar are Canadian cities with their American counterparts. But that is a talk for another day.
Patrick Hughes, the Australian director behind movies Hitman’s Bodyguard and the Expendables 3. In my honest opinion. His direction and his way with the camera displayed his desire of creating a project similar to Central Intelligence which featured Kevin Hart and
Dwanye Jhonson. I can’t say that his endeavor was successful enough.
The screenplay wasn’t as dedicated and deep as it should have been. The plot is a anything but exceptional and funny except for a few parts intelligently pulled off by Kevin Hart. The incoherent storyline seemed like a product of halfhearted penning and writing.
The comedy is far from what one would prefer seeing in a movie. Its outdated and at times, exaggerated. The dialogues are mostly dry and failed attempts in bringing an actual smile on faces.
Rob Hardy’s cinematography lacks the energy it should have offered to this piece of action comedy. In my opinion, his work majorly involves serious films. Insinuating his forte over this genre has turned out a bit incompetent and unsatisfactory. But this is not to undermine his skills and prowess. Risks must be taken in order to test yourself in new waters
Cinema Blend highlighted another minor glitch that was not so minor for the Canadian viewers.
The cast kept pronouncing the name of Toronto wrong. It is pronounced Tr-aan-tow instead of To-ron-tow! Are you confused? Tell that to any Canadian.
For Kevin Hart, The Man from Toronto is a not the breakthrough he had expected for his contract with Netflix. He had been previously delivering some moving movies such as Fatherhood while his Central Intelligence is still considered among the best modern Hollywood comedies.
However, I strongly believe that this project isn’t enough to dent Kevin’s career. He still has massive potential of outperforming in movies that are yet to come.
What serious is, is the position Netflix stands on. The OTT platform seriously needs to revamp its collection of movies and dramas while keeping a stringent watch over the content being approved and produced for it already has a lot at stakes.
After hearing so much, does The Man from Toronto movie is worth watching? I would not say that it’s a must watch. But neither I would discourage it from watching. It’s a project of Woody Harrelson and Kevin Hart after all. Do watch it for the sake of love you have for these two artists.
The Man from Toronto is currently streaming on Netflix Pakistan and can actually be recommended if one has nothing so serious on his or her list before Eid.