The Ledge (2011)

I must be retarded or something because I wanted to watch The Switch, yep, the romantic comedy starring Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston, but I ended up watching The Ledge, a thriller starring three very bangable actors instead. Or perhaps it's because Patrick Wilson is in both and the short titles confused me. 

Either way, the film is about two men who intersect each other on the ledge of a skyscraper: one man, Gavin (Charlie Hunnam), is about to jump, the other man, Hollis (Terrence Howard), is the detective trying to talk him out of it. At first, it looks like a regular suicide attempt but it quickly relieves to be way more complex than that as Gavin starts telling his story and explains to Hollis why he has no other choice than to jump. 

I don't want to spoil it for you so I won't add anything else about the plot. Although there's really nothing to ruin here as the potentially compelling and thrilling story is poorly executed and filled with pretty needless subplots —Howard's character finding out that he's been sterile his entire life and yet having two kids with his wife; and the drama with Gavin's gay roomate— that aren't nearly as compelling as the main storyline, which isn't the most compelling of stories either. 

The problem is that Matthew Chapman —director and writer— made a movie about faith and morals, provided a Christianity vs Atheism argument without really exploring it, only presenting pretty common arguments. I'm an atheist like Chapman but I would fairly represent both sides. There's no point in making a philosophical film like this one and then categorize all religious people as homophobic, small-minded bigots —whether it's Christianity or Judaism, all the religions get an unfair treatment here. Instead of saying that people can do good or bad things regardless of their philosophical orientation —something I firmly believe in—, it says that Atheists do good things, religious people do bad things. This film delivers one of the most biased messages ever.

IFC Films, OMC

The characters are another problem. They have very little development and they backstories are pretty contrived and unconvincing —they are too extreme to fit with the rest of the script and this takes away from the film's realism. The villain, however, Joe the Christian is quite a compelling and sympathetic one and the credits go to Patrick Wilson for his solid performance. As for the other leads, Charlie Hunnam is not believable in the role of the sweet and emotional guy; Terrence Howard gives a somewhat empty performance, if that makes any sense; Liv Tyler isn't that great either —you get to see her boobs though if you're interested— and her chemistry with Hunnam is nearly non-existent as they send this awkward and uncomfortable vibe when they are together.

Summing it all up, The Ledge is a boring, non-tense thriller that isn't really worth watching unless you love, like insanely love one of the actors, or are one of those Atheists people, myself included, hates.