By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Look, the first few seconds of this film is slightly misleading – it has Kevin Hart shooting ridiculous fitness videos that aren’t funny at all, and you’ll probably have your nose scrunched up wondering if you should continue watching it. Wait a little… it gets a little better and funnier. Maybe not rib-tickling funny, but it has enough ‘laugh out loud’ moments to make for an entertaining watch.
Directed by Patrick Hughes, Netflix film ‘The Man From Toronto’ is about how a dumb unemployed guy called Teddy (Kevin Hart) gets mistaken for a deadly assassin, due to a few goof-ups on his part. Woody Harrelson plays the titular character, a famous hit-man whose real identity is unknown. Miraculously, the dimwit Teddy doesn’t get himself killed and now the ‘Man From Toronto’ is on his heels, wondering why a jobless idiot has people convinced he is the world’s most dangerous killer.
Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson surprisingly make a fun onscreen duo, might remind some of the famous Jackie Chan – Owen Wilson pairing in action comedies, except that this 2022 flick doesn’t have enough action and well, nobody in this cast can kick butt like Chan. Hart’s Teddy is dumb, annoying and talks a little too much, even more than ‘Donkey’ from Shrek! Woody Harrelson plays the Canadian version of his character from ‘Zombieland’, a cool calm killer with a heart of gold. The banter between these two very contrasting characters is quite hilarious. Jasmine Matthews plays Teddy’s wife Lori, and is absolutely charming every time she comes on screen. “How did Teddy land such a girl?” is a million dollar question.
Thankfully, the romantic bits are very limited, and the makers keep their focus on the action-comedy bit. However, there aren’t many hand-to-hand combat scenes, but there are plenty of people dying and things blowing up to keep the action quotient up. One sequence in the second half reminded me of Rohit Shitty’s Bollywood films and his love for exploding cars. With a decent plot, ample witty one liners and a reliable cast, ‘The Man From Toronto’ might be exaggeratedly silly in parts, but it also makes it funny and good enough for a casual weekend stream. Watch it on Netflix.
It’s a 6.5/10 from me.