Eddie the Eagle (2016)

IMDb plot summary: The story of Eddie Edwards, the notoriously tenacious British underdog ski jumper who charmed the world at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
Directed by Dexter Fletcher. Starring Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Edvin Endre, and Jo Hartley.

(Mild spoilers.)

This is a very strange movie. In most ways, it is unrelentingly conventional. Every cliche you can think of, happens, and it happens in a way that is eye-rollingly designed to manipulate the audience into caring. But then every so often, that manipulation goes a little too far and we get these bizarre, almost cartoonish over-the-top sequences that are by far more interesting than anything else we see in the film. I'm thinking of Hugh Jackman's hilarious "LOOK I'M SO COOL" ski jump while smoking, the amazingly melodramatic responses to Eddie's final jump, and the goofily menacing evil of the advanced ski jumpers in the spa. These moments are ridiculous and really do feel like they'd be more at home in a Nickelodeon cartoon than in a live action feel-good sports movie, but they're a breath of fresh air given the by-the-book mundanity of the rest of the movie. As a whole, the flick's pretty harmless if you like that sort of thing, but it's certainly not anything compelling or different... aside from those occasional bits of complete nonsense that made me laugh harder than any of the actual jokes.

1.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Eddie the Eagle < 13 Going on 30
Eddie the Eagle > Mr. Holland's Opus
Eddie the Eagle > Deja Vu
Eddie the Eagle < Larry-Boy and the Fib From Outer Space
Eddie the Eagle < Ghostbusters
Eddie the Eagle < Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Eddie the Eagle < Syrup
Eddie the Eagle > The Toy That Saved Christmas
Eddie the Eagle < Dear Frankie
Eddie the Eagle < The Imitation Game
Eddie the Eagle > Fun Size
Final spot: #1511 out of 2437.