If you're going to go see Man On A Ledge this weekend, I suggest leaving about 45 minutes in, an hour if you're feeling generous. The new thriller starring Sam Worthington starts out with great promise, so much that I thought I was looking at a heist/thriller similar in caliber to something like Spike Lee's Inside Man. As the movie reaches it's conclusion, the plot and action becomes so outstandingly ridiculous that it kind of cancels out the good will that it gave in the first few acts. Lots of belly laughs to be had, but the kind when you're actually laughing at, not with.

The story is this; Ex-cop turned prisoner Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) escapes prison to take part in a heist that proves his innocence. His ledge-based antics are mostly part of the "very complex" plan that he and his brother (Jamie Bell) have been planning for over a year. Of course, there's suspense and then justice is served, albeit in a completely unbelievable and most cliché manner.

I'm all for willing suspense of disbelief and in action and thriller movies there are always going to be elements that don't actually happen in real life. Man on a Ledge takes this for granted and by the end of the film, myself and other theater goers were laughing loudly at the sheer absurdity of it all. It has the distinct feeling that the writer realized he couldn't possibly wrap the script up in time so he just ended it without any dose of reality whatsoever.

The only cast member that seems to be actually enjoying the experience is Genesis Rodriguez, even though her character is about as stereotypical as the rest of them. Sam Worthington doesn't even attempt to hide his Australian accent for the majority of the film even though his character is a New Yorker and proud. Then there's Kyra Sedgwick who plays a Latina reporter. That got a huge laugh from the audience. All in all, this resume addition will be pushed under the rug for most of the cast, as it should. Ed Harris will definitely never speak of this again.

SumOlogy: This movie could have been satisfying but ended up a mess. In other words, it was a shart.

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