The Upside

Comic maestro Kevin Hart stars alongside Oscar nominee Bryan Cranston and Oscar winner Nicole Kidman in this heartfelt comedy about an unlikely alliance between men from radically different worlds.

Dell (Hart) has little confidence that life holds many promises for a man with a criminal record, no formal education, and no financial safety net. He shows up as a candidate for the position of caregiver to millionaire author Phil (Cranston) wanting only a signature to show his parole officer. Yet Phil, despite strenuous protests from his assistant Yvonne (Kidman), insists on hiring the wholly unqualified Dell on the spot. Phil is quadriplegic, a grief-stricken widower, and, like Dell, running short on hope. Divided by race, class, and ability, these men could not be farther apart. Yet if they can bridge their differences, they may just discover a rare breed of friendship — and teach each other to live again.

Based on the international box-office smash The Intouchables from writer-directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano — whose new film, C'est la vie!, is this year's closing night gala — The Upside is an uncommonly touching bromance. Director Neil Burger (Divergent, The Illusionist) keeps the laughs coming and the pace tight, reinventing the original French premise for North America, and drawing career-best work from Hart and Cranston. Hart in particular is a revelation. His Dell is a fiendishly clever misfit whose tendency for scheming leads him towards a truly inspiring feat of self-renewal.