Man on a Ledge will barely make you dizzy

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Nostalgia buffs should be warned that Man on a Ledge is not a remake of 1951’s Fourteen Hours, a tense psychological drama about a deeply disturbed man who decides to stand out on the ledge of his hotel room high above the street.

What does director Asger Leth give us instead? A movie so relentlessly unconvincing that it barely manages to make us mildly dizzy. Man on a Ledge is also about a guy who decides to stand out the hard way—in this case, more than 20 floors above the pavement, courtesy of New York’s famed Roosevelt Hotel. Australian actor Sam Worthington takes on the title role, employing an Irish-American accent that proves to be a lot shakier than his legs.

Worthington plays former cop Nick Cassidy, a convict who escapes from custody after being framed and jailed for stealing a $40-million diamond. An over-the-top Ed Harris portrays the diamond owner who framed him, a slimy real-estate tycoon who couldn’t resist double dipping, collecting the insurance money and then tucking away the supposedly stolen gem away in his high-tech bank vault.

Nick’s master plan to prove his innocence? Get his brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and Joey’s streetwise girlfriend (Genesis Rodriguez) to break into the vault and steal the diamond. In the meantime, Nick will be busy providing a rather showy distraction from across the street. His stunt attracts the attention of numerous gawkers as well as a detective (Edward Burns) and a sexy police psychologist (Elizabeth Banks).

They’re all watching one cool customer. In fact, the thought of falling off the ledge barely makes Nick sweat. He moves like a superhero and carries on conversations as if he’s leaning against a lamppost in Central Park. But why should we expect even a shred of logic? There’s enough loose ends here to dangle over the side of a very high building.

Watch the trailer for Man on a Ledge.