Eddie the Eagle is a feel good movie.

Olympic skiing is this comedy drama’s bread and butter, but competition isn’t its reason for being.

The true story of Michael “Eddie” Edwards and his journey to the 1988 winter Olympics has all the hallmarks of underdog determination. Though winning at the game is highly unlikely, but he did not care.

The only way was up

Eddie begins his journey to the ski slope as a naive beginner, who knew little about the sport in 1987.

But with sheer will, Eddie manages to convince his parents and a washed up former skier, who becomes his coach, to come along for the ride and prove the skeptics–of which there are many–wrong.

Participating the best he could did matter. A sixty year old British ski jump record was up for grabs, if he could.

This underdog believes he can get involved in Olympic competition, which is the point. In time, he rubs that off on others.

Eddie ‘the eagle’

A gold medal seemed out of his grasp, but did not seem to matter. Gold medals aren’t as important as the reason one ski’s.

When Eddie is taking the lift to the top of the slope for the 90 m. jump, the world’s best tells him, in a manner of speaking, that they both jump for their ‘soul’.

Eddie’s coach Bronson Peary says skiing is spiritual. “You fly,” he says, explaining to Eddie that the basics come from the heart or ‘spirit’ and propel the body like an eagle. That seems to be a metaphor for life.

The Eddie the Eagle message: give it a go. For Eddie, it was do, or die. He did.

Warnings—Partial male nudity (in a sauna) and sexual references

Taron Egerton (Eddie Edwards), Hugh Jackman (Bronson Peary), Tom Costello (Eddie 10 years), Jo Hartley & Keith Allen (Eddie’s parents Janette and Terry), Jack Costello (Eddie 15 years)

Dexter Fletcher (Director), Simon Kelton (Story), Sean Macaulay Simon Kelton (Screenplay)

Country: UK, Germany, USA; Year: 2016. Now available on DVD/Blu-ray