The Upside review – mediocre remake

What a difference casting can make. Intouchables, the original French film on which this is based, starred Omar Sy as the ex-con who blags himself a job as the carer for a millionaire quadriplegic. This sluggish US remake trades the generous charm of Sy’s affable screen presence for the niggling irritation of Kevin Hart. Everything that was already wrong with the original film – its sentimentality, its simplicity – is magnified. Bryan Cranston plays the venture capitalist who finds himself locked in the gilded cage of his own penthouse apartment following a paragliding accident. Nicole Kidman slips into sensible spectacles and the background as his loyal business manager. And the greatest hits of opera, bursting out of the soundtrack like an overbearing drunk at a party, are drowned out only by Hart’s dental-drill delivery.