The Climb

 

The Climb (Amazon Prime)

I have to stop reading the posters at the Angelica movie theater on Houston Street. The critics lauded this movie with accolades: humorous, smart, great bromances flick etc... The poster was plastered  with laurels from a number of film festivals. At best I found the film annoying.

The main characters are relatively unknown, at least to me. Mike is played by Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle is played by Kyle Marvin. It is written by  Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin, produced by Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin and directed by Michael Angelo Covino. Is there a pattern here? The film was made in 2019 but released in 2020 with several push back dates. So the box office of $710,000 is a victim of COVID. Mercifully, it cost only $5.99 to watch.

The film is sectioned in chapters with titles like “Lets Go” and “I’m Sorry”. So there is no continuous story line. Acting is not a hallmark of this film. Mike is an alcoholic jerk who betrays Kyle more than once and although Kyle is the victim he stays loyal to Mike. Emotions never reach a boiling point, although flabby punches are thrown. Mike is reprehensible and Kyle is made of play doe. It is hard to relate to someone who just lets themselves be dumped on.

There are some recognizable names. Gayle Rankin plays Kyle’s wife, Marissa,  and George Wendt (Norm from “Cheers”). The movie takes place wherever they do ice fishing (is that a thing?). The funniest scene of the movie is when Kyle’s friends give him a bachelor party in a tiny  icehouse on a frozen lake and they hire a stripper. There is also a scene which is a total rip off from the “Graduate”. At Kyle and Marissa’s wedding Mike barges into the chapel wearing a white dinner jacket and shouts, “I object”. Dustin Hoffman did it better.

There have been numerous cycling movies, this one is in the back of the pack.