Eddie The Eagle

The Calgary Winter Olympics were certainly a memorable event. Not only did 1988 see the first appearance of Jamaica in the event (as immortalised in Cool Runnings), but it also saw a loveable loser become a media sensation. This is the tale of Eddie The Eagle.

Since his childhood, Eddie (Taron Egerton) has been obsessed with competing in the Olympics. Filled with determination, Eddie's dream is only hampered by a complete lack of sporting talent. Still he has one chance to get in. If he can make a distance of 70 metres on a ski jump, he will qualify under a loophole for the British Winter Olympics team. With a drunken and disgraced former Olympiad, Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman), as his coach Eddie strives for entrance to the Calgary games. After all how hard can a sport be where men train from childhood, so they don't end up in a body cast?

Eddie The Eagle is a quintessential feelgood sports film. It hits every cliché of the genre with such a sense of glee, that it is had to fault it for achieving its intent. It doesn't matter that this has taken vast liberties with the truth, such as creating an entirely fictitious character for Hugh Jackman to play. This is a romp that celebrates mediocrity and equates it to the original Olympic ideal of amateur competition.

In a sense it is right, as the Olympics has moved far beyond this initial concept (as numerous drug cheating scandals clearly demonstrate).  Eddie becomes a bungling Everyman, struggling against the system (in this case, represented by a sneering Tim McInnerny) to reclaim that amateur spirit. The audience becomes invested, cheering his achievements as the film finds humour between the breadth of his ambitions and the humbleness of his actual accomplishments.

Central to this is Taron Egerton's performance. His face contorted, his posture slouched, he is almost unrecognisable from the lead role in Kingsman. Instead he inhabits the character, creating the lovable loser that the sports press of the '80s fell in love with. Embodying the stubborn determination which Eddie peruses his goals. Jackman, by contrast gives him someone to bounce off, and the film is at its best when these two are interacting. They are distorted reflections of each other, Peary having the talent and training, but lacking the drive.

A humorously good natured film that captures the spirit of the era and the event.

Originally published In X-Press Magazine