Love drives Gavin to the ledge of a mid-town office building. He must jump by noon, he tells Detective Hollis Lucas. Hollis contemplates leaving his family after discovering his wife’s lies. Two desperate men meet in the suspenseful indie drama The Ledge, now playing on demand before it opens in theaters.
Featured at Sundance 2011, The Ledge showcases excellent acting by Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) as a hotel manager who pursues his beautiful, sad neighbor Shauna (Liv Tyler). Shauna is married to a Christian fundamentalist (Patrick Wilson). The film begins and ends on the ledge, but returns to the story of Gavin and Shauna while suspense builds.
Terrence Howard (Law & Order: LA, Hustle & Flow) provides intrigue as a police detective who has just discovered that he is not the father of his own children. So good at portraying a complex, gentle man smoldering with rage, the actor grounds the film with can’t-look-away screen presence and riveting delivery.
Tyler (The Incredible Hulk; The Lord of the Rings) plays a suppressed, fearful wife with a wild past who lets her husband dominate “for her own good.” “It’s more complicated than you think,” she tells Gavin. Seeking to be rescued, Shauna reels with conflicting needs and desires. This works well in counterpoint to the rooftop rescue underway.
As a lonely man with a mysterious past, Hunnam disguises Gavin’s warmth and generosity with devil-may-care irreverence. When the jumper gazes at the picture of a little girl in his wallet, we want to know more.
Writer-director Matthew Chapman relies heavily on two plot devices. Atheist Gavin clashes with evangelical Joe in a conflict that’s one-sided from the start. The debate between believer and non-believer becomes tedious with dogmatic, hackneyed dialogue.
Gavin suffered a loss that explains his fatalism and dangerous liaison with a married woman. Wilson (Insidious) portrays an obsessed creep (“I am washed, sanctified and justified,”) but never makes Joe sympathetic or fully dimensional. More backstory for the character would have helped.
When Gavin and his gay roommate Chris (Christopher Gorham) join Joe and Shauna for dinner one night, Joe makes intolerant comments. The homophobia angle seems contrived in the film, as if cut and pasted from another screenplay.
Although The Ledge is set in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, there are no recognizable visual cues that could have added cultural interest. The movie is play-like with its intense, life or death countdown.
The Ledge ends on a strong note as Gavin and Hollis reach parallel resolutions on the worst day of their lives.
If you like The Ledge, you might enjoy: The Perfect Host; Limitless; The Double Hour.
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The Ledge 2011 / NR / 1 hour, 43 min
Cast Overview: Charlie Hunnam, Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, Terrence Howard, Christopher Gorham, Jacqueline Fleming
Director: Matthew Chapman
Genre: Suspense, Drama, Mystery
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