The Man from Toronto

Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson have solid goofball vs. grump chemistry in an entertaining action-comedy.

The leads click well enough. But every moment Hart and Harrelson aren’t on the screen, the film dies. The real torture in this torture comedy becomes the too-long wait for it to end.

The Man from Toronto is derivative and forgettable; nothing about the venue in which it is seen will change that.

In The Man From Toronto, directed by Patrick Hughes, the vague sense of location is typical of a broader lack of effort. Although Hart, as the broadly comic version of the classic Hitchcockian Wrong Man, has a certain goofball charm, his frantic coward routine gets old quickly, with no appreciable change as the action-flick danger continues to escalate.

The Man from Toronto could have been sharper with much more care all around, but a glaring problem comes from how Hughes isn’t a funny filmmaker. He might have the self-awareness to slap his name on a food processing plant that hosts the movie’s climactic kill, but his sense of making an action scene comedic is seriously lacking.

Director Patrick Hughes’ latest is both 112 minutes, and a hodgepodge of so many other movies that it becomes the most obnoxious of cinematic collages.

Director Patrick Hughes’ film should be avoided at all cost.

I have not yet seen The Hitman's Bodyguard and The Man From Toronto was directed by the very same Patrick Hughes. And while what you see is what you get, it's a fun ride, a mix of mistaken identity comedy and odd couple with Hart and Harrelson delivering the goods on their respective stereotypical characters. Ever since Harrelson walked away from the set of Cheers, he's been typecast as the badass and he does fine here. Hart is Mr. Blabbermouth Hijinx who plays a failed salesman that fouls everything up whatever he touches. Lots of cliches here, lots of different locales and the romp around keeps the story going. The highlight has to be the gym fight sequence towards the end. For a moment, it felt like a completely different film with the brawl choreography clean and overall, a rollicking hoot. This is Friday night, pizza night fare and all the parts work together. It's a Netflix film and while sections feel tired and bland, the leads keep you hooked. It's way better than Red Notice. A nice distraction.

A rehash of "Central Intelligence" basically: an average Joe gets entangled in an international espionage/terrorism scheme while cracking really funny jokes. Nothing new, but a great way to pass a couple of hours.

There could be a decent concept in there with The Man from... men, but in reality... 'The Man from Toronto' is poor. I like both Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson, and they do make it more watchable than it would otherwise be, but even those two couldn't stop this from being an unfortunately dull watch for me. Nothing about this feels fresh, it came out in 2022 but could've easily come out in 2012. Hart's performance seems like something we've seen before, with it feeling - at least on the surface - the same as his roles in 'Central Intelligence' with Dwayne Johnson and in 'Ride Along' with Ice Cube. The plots are different, of course, but the vibe is pretty much the same. Hart should stick with films like 'The Upside' and 'Fatherhood', in my opinion. It's very forgettable. in short. It's not helped by an overlong run time, either.

Kevin Hart plays Kevin Hart. Again. The Man From Toronto is insufferably unfunny.

Without making the slightest effort, Woody Harrelson gets the job done in this comedy, erasing an extremely limited actor and comedian like Kevin Hart who, just like Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds, have built their careers on playing the same guy over and over again. This film will be a hit for Netflix, but if you value anything with substance, this will just be a monumental waste of your time.