A Long Way Down is a 2014 British comedy based on author Nick Hornby’s 2005 novel of the same name. Hornby is probably familiar to most for his other works adapted into film, High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Fever Pitch (the football original > baseball remake btw). The film stars Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Aaron Paul, and Imogen Poots (the female counterpart to Benedict Cumberbatch in British naming stakes) as four strangers whose lives collide when they happen to meet on a rooftop on New Year’s Eve. Each journeyed to that point with the intention of committing suicide, instead interrupting each others plans. In the aftermath, they mesh into a support group of sorts and make a pact to not attempt suicide until the next significant day in the calendar, Valentines Day. They move on with their lives, dealing with their own issues, media intrusion into their attempted suicide as well as the growing bond between them.
It’s an interesting premise, certainly a scenario that should provide a significant platform for some impressive performances, but in general A Long Way Down just does not work. There is no deftness to the tale, something required when dealing with a topic as sensitive as suicide. It feels too peppy in the comedy and unconvincing and light in the more dramatic elements. The darker source material is a sharp contrast to what is produced here. Hornby is particularly adept at balancing the light and the dark, but something had certainly been lost in translation. The ensemble has some genuine, natural chemistry but the dialogue seems overly forced. Better handled are portions of the film looking at individual members of the group, but again it veers towards the cliched and vacuous. It feels more like a cable TV mini-series than a cohesive feature film.
The cast represent established and up and coming talent, each striving to work with the material given them. Pierce Brosnan is passable as a disgraced TV star, Toni Collette fares better with some of the more poignant moments as the mother of a disabled son, Imogen Poots is a heartbroken teen (and source of much of the humor), and Aaron Paul (surly) is a pizza delivery guy suffering from brain cancer…or is he? The issue is not the talent or the premise, it is the screenwriting and direction. The film seems to avoid the real core of these characters’ plights; you never get a real sense that they want to end their lives, so the premise on which the film is built is totally undermined. The comedy is vastly exaggerated, demonstrated perfectly in a scene where the group realizes their non-suicide pact has been written on the back of one if their suicide notes. Forced laughter follows, as does the groans from the audience. There are a few moments of tenderness (largely Collette) but these stand out and are not the norm. Substance, nuance, and genuine emotion are all lacking when they should be at the forefront of a film approaching these personal issues.
THE PACKAGEThe DVD was, to be frank, pretty washed out in appearance lacking definition and crispness. Bonus Features included a number of (understandably) deleted scenes and a theatrical trailer. Meatier features include Making of A Long Way Down: Jumping in with the Cast & Crew and Working with the Director; both show the talent available to the film and interest in the subject matter and compound the mystery as to how distanced the film was from its subject matter.
THE BOTTOM LINEOverall A Long Way Down disappoints. While a interesting premise, the fallout from attempted suicide is too heavy a subject to allow sufficient comedy into the film to lift it up, and what is there often seems forced or misguided. As a counterpoint, it never really embraces the dramatic, darker aspect of the situation to give the talented cast something meaty to work with. Eminently forgettable, annoyingly wasteful of themes and cast; rent if you have to satisfy your curiosity.
A Long Way Down is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from 9th September, 2014.