MAN ON A LEDGE: 2 STARS
If I had to choose one word to describe “Man on a Ledge,” the new heist drama starring Sam Worthington and Jamie Bell, it wouldn’t be thrilling or even breathtaking. No the word that best sums up the movie is implausible. Your enjoyment of the film will depend on how often you are willing to suspend your disbelief.
Worthington plays Nick Cassidy, a former cop sentenced to twenty-five years at Sing Sing prison for a diamond heist he may or may not have committed. After a daring escape he launches an elaborate plan to prove his innocence. Step one is perching himself on the ledge of the twenty-first floor of a Manhattan hotel. From that vantage point he orchestrates a “Mission: Impossible” style scheme to uncover the plot that sent him up the river.
“Man on a Ledge” is not what Hitchcock called a Refrigerator Movie. That is, one that seems to make sense while you’re watching it, but later, when you’re at home in front of the fridge thinking about it, the inanity of it becomes clear. Nope, this one is loud and proud in its complete lack of logic.
Plot wise so many things don’t add up that according to this movie’s way of thinking one plus one must equal five. But, as I said earlier, if you can suspend disbelief and go along for the ride “Man on a Ledge” proves not to be a bad movie, just a silly one.
Stereotypes abound—there’s the ruthless reporter who knows that jumpers are good for ratings, the troubled cop, the coldblooded businessman—and an overly elaborate plan that plays itself out just a little too easily. Add to that a bit too much talk about “how far you would go to clear your name” and one scene of completely gratuitous almost nudity and you end up with a poorly plotted time waster that skates by on the strength of its characters.
