The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Monday, January 14, 2019 — 5A

By C.C. Burnikel
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/14/19

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

01/14/19

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Monday, January 14, 2019

ACROSS
1 Parks who 
wouldn’t give up 
her bus seat
5 Jewel box item
10 Colored eye part
14 Cartel acronym
15 Prizefight venue
16 Brit’s “Later!”
17 Version to debug
18 Recall ability
20 Blew like Etna
22 Black as night, 
e.g.
23 Well-groomed 
guy
26 __ XING: 
crosswalk sign
27 Noteworthy 
period
28 Removes, as a 
cork
30 Nowhere close
33 Places to swim
36 Geek’s cousin
37 Fodder storage 
site
38 Hauls with effort
40 Japanese warrior
42 “Right back __!”: 
“Me, too!”
43 Flashy promotion
45 Turn topsy-turvy
46 Water-testing 
digit
47 “__ With the 
Wind”
48 Map app path: 
Abbr.
49 Cantina 
condiment
51 One making 
a living in 
government, 
briefly
56 Small piano
59 Motivate
60 Knockout drink, 
in old gangster 
movies
63 Puma rival
64 Australian gem
65 So last year
66 Cafeteria staffer
67 Heredity carrier
68 “Some __ time”: 
“Not now”
69 RR stops: Abbr.

DOWN
1 Dressed like a 
judge
2 Mozart work
3 Arrange in 
advance
4 Like singing sans 
instruments

5 GoPro product
6 “Judge __”: 
Stallone film
7 Sleep acronym
8 Lennon’s love
9 Red planet
10 “Who’s there?” 
reply
11 In quick 
succession
12 Emphatic type: 
Abbr.
13 Fit to be tried
19 Puppy’s barks
21 Succinct
24 Orangutan, e.g.
25 Swedes’ 
neighbors
29 Kissing at the 
mall, for short
31 Actor Cumming
32 __ rage: 
bodybuilder’s 
concern
33 H.S. junior’s 
exam
34 Numerical prefix 
with -pus
35 Self-affirming 
retort
36 “Bye Bye Bye” 
band
37 Large political 
spending gps.
39 Rice noodle 
soup

41 Trumpet 
mufflers
44 Veggie in a pod
47 Sheer joy
48 Jeremy of “The 
Avengers”
50 Often-twisted 
joint
52 Washer cycle
53 Whirl on one foot
54 Hunter 
constellation
55 Plumbers’ 
problems

56 Air quality 
concern
57 Frosty’s corncob 
accessory
58 Autocorrect target
61 Budgetary 
excess
62 “Give or take” 
suffix ... that 
can be added to 
the end of 18-, 
23-, 51- and 
60-Across to form 
a sort of set

There was a time when it 

seemed 
possible 
that 
“The 

Upside,” a drama based on a 2011 
French cultural phenomenon 
and starring one of the most 
acclaimed actors of the last 
decade and one of the most 
popular comedians on planet 
Earth, wouldn’t get a release. 
The film premiered at the 2017 
Toronto 
International 
Film 

Festival, about a year and a 
half ago. It was picked up for 
distribution 
and set for a 
March 2018 
release date, 
but a month 
later 
its 

distributor, 
The 
Weinstein 
Company, 
found 
itself 

facing 
the 
legal 

firestorm 
that 
jumpstarted 
the #MeToo 
movement 
and 
continues 
to shift the power structure 
of Hollywood today. It sat on 
a shelf for nearly a year before 
STX Entertainment and Lantern 
Entertainment, the successor to 
The Weinstein Company, bought 
it, retooled it for a PG-13 rating 

and re-slated it for release.

I open by recounting the story 

of “The Upside” not just because 
it provides a look into how even 
a movie with so much 
going for it can still 
nearly fall through the 
cracks and how other 
movies that have fallen 
through the cracks can 
come to be “rescued,” 
but because the story 
behind “The Upside” is 
much more interesting 
than anything about 
“The 
Upside” 
itself. 

Like 
“Green 
Book” 

before 
it, 

it seems to 
strive to be 
the 
most 

milquetoast, 
inoffensive 
race 

relations 
story 

possible, but where 
“Green 
Book” 
at 

least had the comfort 
of 
stylish 
period 

trappings to propel 
it into something an 
iota above average, 
“The 
Upside” 
has 

only its underserved 
leads.

The story follows 

Dell 
Scott 
(Kevin 

Hart, 
The 
91st 

Academy A—I mean, “Night 
School”), a down-on-his-luck 
ex-con looking for a job who 
eventually finds it with Phillip 
Lacasse 
(Bryan 
Cranston, 

“Sneaky Pete”), a quadriplegic 
billionaire in need of a live-in 

life assisstant. Phillip is struck 
by Dell’s cavalier attitude during 
the interview and hires him, and 
the two men form a friendship 

that will not 
only change 
their lives for 
the 
better, 

but 
maybe, 

just 
maybe, 

will 
teach 

themselves 
a 
little 

something 
about 
themselves.

For 
all 

the 
well-

deserved 
controversy 
currently 
surrounding 

him, it’s hard to see Hart’s 
performance in “The Upside” 
as anything other than his best 
yet. What he needs is a director 
who can rein in his boundless 
energy and channel it towards 
something productive rather 
than the same types of ego-
stroking riffs that serve only 
to pad the runtime. Here, Hart 
seems to find that in Neil Burger 
(“Divergent”), who gives him his 
fair share of comedic moments 
but also forces him to, you 
know, act. His chemistry with 
Cranston is particularly strong, 
and their odd couple dynamic 
provides the movie with its best 
moments.

The problem is that those 

moments 
are 
few 
and 
far 

between. For all the restraint 

he shows with his use of 
Hart, 
Burger’s 
direction 

of the rest of the film 
results in little more than 
a shot-for-shot remake of 
the original French film 
“The Intouchables,” warts 
and all. The stilted social 
commentary is there. The 
predictable story is there. 
Even the opening scene is 
virtually an exact copy of the 
original film. The only thing 
of note added is a romantic 
subplot between Phillip and 
his executive Yvonne (Nicole 
Kidman, 
“Boy 
Erased”), 

a story so familiar that it 
only serves to further the 
feeling that this script was 
assembled from the pages of 
other films.

That’s what “The Upside” 

feels like more often than 
not. It’s not a bad movie. It’s 
not a good movie. It’s a well-
acted but deeply uninspired 
movie which tries for social 
relevance and falls flat on 
its face. I’m not arguing 
that every story has to be 
completely 
original, 
but 

there are no surprises here. 
We’ve seen it with “The 
Blind Side.” We’ve seen it 
with “Green Book.” Now we 
see it with “The Upside.” If 
you can read the synopsis 
above and honestly say that 
you can’t predict beat-by-
beat where that story will go 
and how it will eventually 
end, then maybe you’ll find 
some enjoyment here. But if 
you’ve seen any inspirational 
drama in the last twenty 
years, this will likely do very 
little for you.

‘The Upside’ proves to be 
absolutely milquetoast

JEREMIAH VANDERHELM

Daily Arts Writer

FILM REVIEW

STX ENTERTAINMENT

‘The 

Upside’

STX Entertainment 

and Lantern 

Entertainment

Ann Arbor IMAX 
20+ and Goodrich 

Quality 16

Even the 

opening scene 
is virtually an 
exact copy of 
the original 

film.

After 
fifteen 
years 
on 

Broadway, “Wicked” has set 
out to make a change. Britney 
Johnson 
was 
recently 
cast 

as the first black Glinda in 
a 
Broadway 
production 
of 

“Wicked,” 
making 
history 

for the world-
famous musical. 
Despite 
the 

fact 
that 
the 

musical has had 
many people of 
color 
playing 

principal 
roles 

like 
Elphaba, 

Madame 
Morrible, Fiyero 
and 
Nessarose, 

the role of the 
Good Witch of 
the North has 
traditionally 
been held by a 
white 
actress. 

The 
beloved 

story took on an 
entirely different 
meaning 
with 

Johnson as the 
sparkly, 
ditzy 

and 
“popular” 

character, 
allowing 
the 

audience to see 
new rays of light 
in the story that 
previously went 
unnoticed. 

With 
Glinda 

as a person of 
color, there is a 
level of empathy 
between 
green 

Elphaba and the 
good witch that 
creates a greater 
semblance 
of 
similarity 

between 
the 

characters’ 
journeys. 
The 

musical 
follows 
themes 
of 

love, connection and kindness, 
preaching the message that 
strong female friendships are 
able to withstand divisions, 
animosity 
and 
feelings 
of 

otherness. 
Additionally, 
the 

span 
of 
Glinda’s 
character 

arc is greatly widened when 
we see her through this new 
lens, allowing her growth as 
a character to resonate more 
soundly with the audience. The 
audience certainly resonated 
with the newfound complexity 
of the character, with videos 
circulating on the internet 
showing 
audience 
members 

roaring with applause during 
Johnson’s 
first 
scene 
on 

stage 
where 
Glinda 
utters 

the perfectly fitting opening 
line: “It’s good to see me, isn’t 
it?” This reaction was born of 
excitement because Johnson 
made history as she floated 
down from the blue skies of Oz 
in her glittery bubble, but from 
something deeper as well. The 
seeds for change and for a more 
diverse Broadway were planted 
on that celebrated Gershwin 

stage this past weekend. Now 
those seeds must be nurtured 
by audiences, privileged actors, 
minority actors and creators 
alike to help them to grow.

While 
musicals 
like 

“Hamilton” 
and 
“On 
Your 

Feet” created many roles for 
Latinx, Black and minority 
actors, it is still very rare to see 
minorities cast in traditionally 

white held roles 
on 
Broadway. 

Musical theatre 
seems to be on 
the 
trajectory 

towards a more 
inclusive reality 
and progress is 
being made on 
major stages, but 
it is by no means 
equal 
in 
any 

sense of the word. 
According to an 
Asian American 
Performers 
Action Coalition 
Ethnic 
Representation 
in 
New 
York 

Stages 
Report, 

in the 2015-2016 
season 23 percent 
of 
Broadway 

roles were held 
by Black actors, 
7 
percent 
by 

Latinx actors, 4 
percent by Asian 
American actors 
and 
all 
other 

minorities held 2 
percent of roles. 
These 
statistics 

prove that while 
progress 
has 

been 
made 
in 

terms 
of 
more 

representation 
on the Broadway 
stage, 
there 
is 

still much to be 
done. The same 

report states 15.4 percent of 
all available roles were non-
traditionally 
cast, a spike up 
from 
previous 

years 
but 
still 

a 
low 
figure. 

Every day, when 
minorities 
are 
cast 
into 

traditional, 
previously white 
cast 
roles, 
we 

take 
one 
step 

closer to finding 
a semblance of 
equality. But in 
order to continue 
this 
progress, 

all 
theatres, 

casting directors 
and 
producers 

need 
to 
be 

cognizant of the 
changes that are 
required to bring 
momentous 
stories 
like 

Johnson’s 
further 
away 

from anomaly and closer to the 
norm.

Many 
recent 
Broadway 

shows are working tirelessly 
on improving representation, 
which 
was 
seen 
in 
2016 

through the casting of African 
actress Noma Dumezweni as 
Hermione Granger in the stage 
adaptation of “Harry Potter and 
the Cursed Child.” Upon the 
casting announcement, many 
longtime Harry Potter fans 
expressed 
their 
disapproval 

of the decision. However, J. K. 
Rowling, author of the novel 
and play, made a statement on 
Twitter almost immediately, 
saying she never specified skin 
tone in her writing and “loves 
black 
Hermione.” 
Changing 

Hermione’s face for the stage 
adaptation provided a much-
needed layer of diversity to the 
whitewashed world presented 
in the “Harry Potter” films and 
adds a fascinating perspective 
that was previously not present 
in the story.

Storytelling on the Broadway 

stage is evolving. However, we 
cannot simply call it quits and 
feel satisfied with the work put 
in to increase representation 
when 
we 
make 
marginal 

improvements. There is still 
work to be done. There are still 
widespread discrepancies in 
opportunities. When one Black 
Glinda breaks through the 
formerly padlocked door, we 
must honor her commitment, 
talent and perseverance. We 
must help hold the door open 
so that more minority actors 
can have the opportunity to 
hold non-traditional roles on 
commercial stages. We must 
help hold the door open so that 
the statistics can be raised to a 
more equal standard.

Changing the narrative and 

the perspective of commonly 
known, traditional stories by 
way of increasing theatrical 
representation 
provides 

musicals and plays with the 
ability to transform beautifully 
without altering the script or 

scenario at all. 
Not only should 
we 
be 
casting 

minorities 
in 

non-traditional 
roles to increase 
representation, 
we 
should 

be 
giving 

minorities these 
opportunities 
because it makes 
the 
stories 

more 
beautiful, 

intricate 
and 
colorful. 

Providing depth 
to 
these 
roles 

and 
color 
to 

these characters 
transforms 
stories 
into 
a 

wider, 
more 

complete 
and 

more 
inclusive 

dimension. 
These actors are 
the 
beginning 

of a new Broadway: one where 
color is celebrated, triumphed 
and most of all, the standard.

New ‘Wicked’ is a triumph 
for race representation

ELI RALLO

Daily Arts Writer

COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK

BROADWAY BLACK

The musical 

follows 

themes of love, 

connection 

and kindness, 
preaching the 
message that 
strong female 
friendships 
are able to 
withstand 
divisions, 

animosity and 

feelings of 
otherness. 

These actors are 
the beginning of 
a new Broadway: 
one where color 

is celebrated, 
triumphed and 
most of all, the 

standard.

