Canadian, tired
The Man from Toronto limps through a screwball plot based on mistaken identity
The Man from Toronto is a middling screwball comedy featuring a case of mistaken identity, a quarter million in cash, and a car chase with speeds of up to 60 miles (97 kilometres) an hour. Director Sinclair Hill, settling nicely into the talkies after a career forged in silent pictures, makes good use of rising star Jessie Matthews, as well as Ian Hunter (Watson in The Sign of Four), who has the good sense not to attempt a Canadian accent.
The simple setup: Widow Leslie Farrar stands to inherit a small fortune, on condition that she marry Fergus Wimbush, a wealthy bachelor from the colonies. But neither party is eager to enter the arrangement sight unseen, and so Wimbush takes a steamer to England to ...
Wait a minute. I just realized I've been reviewing The Man from Toronto, a 1933 rom-com distributed throughout the United Kingdom and the Irish Free State by Ideal Films Ltd.
The title has also been taken by a new action comedy featuring a case of mistaken identity, several million in cash, and a car chase with ludicrous speeds. You can understand the confusion.
This one stars Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson, the latter a last-minute replacement after Jason Statham dropped out over disagreements with the producers.
But you can tell the unnamed character from Toronto was written for Statham — he's a car-obsessed tough guy, a gruff, no-nonsense, bullet-headed killer. Hart, meanwhile, plays a comic type we've seen from him before — the motor-mouthed wise guy, in over his head.
Our two heroes cross paths when Teddy (Hart), visiting a vacation property with his wife (Jasmine Mathews) and getting the address wrong, is mistaken for Harrelson's character, whose fearsome reputation as a torturer and assassin is accentuated by the fact that no one knows what he looks like. You'd think the real killer might just kill the “impostor” and have done with, but
The Man from Toronto decides instead to team up with Teddy, who's also been co-opted by the FBI to help bring down some bad guys.
It's a bonkers plot, though your viewing pleasure will be increased by the obvious use of some decent Canadian dialogue coaches — almost everyone in the movie calls it “Tron-o,” with only a few instances of “Toe-ronToe” thrown in by Americans who don't know any better.
You can also amuse yourself by imagining how this mismatched buddy comedy might have played out with its original star and a big screen release in the autumn of 2020. Alas, between Statham's departure and the pandemic's arrival, this is what we're left with.