Ever watched a movie that made you feel like you were the spot-on target audience? A movie that makes me feel like that usually has these elements: an entertaining story, a genre that I love, actors that I like and some good humor.

Movies don’t have to be masterpieces or mind-blowingly creative attempts to entertain. I usually just want to have a good time – and Man on a Ledge can definitely show you that.

Here’s why:

1)      The Plot

We have the innocent convict Nick (Sam Worthington) who takes a day off for his father’s funeral to make his escape. He knows it is his only shot, and frankly, he’d rather die to go back to serve 20+ years of jail. An former cop, he makes sure he has enough time to set his plan in motion: he rents a room on one of the top floors of a luxury hotel, enjoys a “last” meal, leaves a “note”, wipes off his parents, steps on the ledge and makes his request when the cops (though not the ones who know who he is) arrive in the room: They’ve 30 minutes to get suicide-negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) to talk to him, or he jumps.

 

The cop who takes his request is Dougherty (Edward Burns), and neither he nor the cop in charge of “ground control” (Titus Welliver) are pleased about it.

 

But after a short while, Mercer seems to have formed a bond and Dougherty is becoming more convinced of her skills. Still she fears that he might jump, and is also suspecting he might be up to something. And he is. He’s gathering all the attention so that his brother (Jamie Bell) and brother’s girlfriend (Genesis Rodriguez) can break into the vault next door- so that they can steal the “supposedly stolen” diamond from the rich and powerful man (Ed Harris) who framed him.

 

But as resourceful as he is, he still has to race against time, help out his brother, dodge the cops who are after him while maintaining the Mercer’s trust. Will they be able to pull it off on time?

 

2)      The fun: the heist, Nick’s tactics to keep everyone busy, Dougherty’s reactions to Mercer’s unorthodox methods, and most of all- the fun one-liners between Joey and his girlfriend.

 

3)      The cast: Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Edward Burns, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris, William Sadler (Sheriff of Roswell and McGarrrett’s father in the new Hawaii Five-O) and Kyra Sedwick – who makes brief but entertaining appearances as the cheeky reporter.

 

4)      The predictable but highly enjoyable twists. There’re very few twists that get a movie addict shocked, or at least hasn’t seen coming. But I don’t watch a fun action movie for twists – surely you see them coming, but they are so entertaining as a whole that you just care if the way to the “twists” are fun.

 

5)      A protagonist to root for

 

6)      Interesting supporting characters

 

7)      A totally ruthless villain

 

 

Man on a Ledge is rated only at 6.6 on IMDB, and I think it should be higher – for its entertainment value. See it to enjoy it. It’s good entertainment- it doesn’t try to be anything more.

 

Directed by Asger Leth and written by Pablo F. Fenjves.