MAN ON A LEDGE

The fact that Sam Worthington can't maintain an American accent is the least of his problems.

Right from the start, Man on a Ledge can't quite decide what sort of movie it is. You'd think that a movie about a wrongly-convicted cop, who is now an escaped fugitive who happens to be standing on the ledge of a skyscraper could make for a taut thriller. I'm sure it could! So could a movie about a jewel heist, where a young woman is required to zip into a skin-tight pleather catsuit in order to slip conveniently through air ducts, right into the high-security vault. Mmm... Okay. And if you put these two plots together? Bam! You should have some slam-bang entertainment, at least according to Hollywood.

But, if you haven't noticed, Hollywood can sure put out a lot of stinky movies, and Man on a Ledge is one of them. There are quite a few good actors in this film. But it is a bad sign when someone respectable like Kyra Sedgwick shows up as a reporter on the street, but immediately gets an unintentional snicker from the audience when she says into her mic, "This is Suzie Morales reporting!" and pronounces her name like she is doing a Sofía Vergara impression. Then there is Ed Harris, a fine actor, who looks strangely disheveled and scrawny, like he was taken off the street, brushed off, and put in a nice suit to play the evil billionaire at the center of the heist. And Anthony Mackie, as the wronged cop's ex-partner, has a throwaway role where his character's motives are as transparent as taking a highlighter pen on page 2 of the screenplay, circling his name, and writing, "Crooked cop?" next to it.

But lets not forget poor Sam Worthington, who is, after all, the man on the ledge. He's a handsome man, with is fashionable, scruffy, two-week beard. He can manage to escape while being allowed to attend his father's funeral. And he happens to have a storage locker with a change of clothes, a gun, and everything he needs in order to execute his plan. Now, I've seen Sam in quite a few movies now, and Hollywood seems to keep propping him up as a potential A-List star. But I haven't seen a single one of his movies where he managed to maintain a consistent accent throughout the film. Shoot, Jamie Bell, a Brit, manages a passable Boston accent, but as soon as Sam gets all riled up, he starts hollering in Australian again.

You'd think an accent wouldn't be such a bit deal. But truthfully, when a movie is a silly and nonsensical as Man on a Ledge, you find yourself thinking about other trivial things, like concocting a Sam Worthington Accent drinking game. If you take a drink every time his accent slips, will you be plastered by the time he actually jumps? Let's bet on it.