With a cast led by Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson, one might expect 2022’s The Man from Toronto to offer a broad comedy. And you know what? It does!

Virginia-based gym employee/aspiring entrepreneur Teddy Jackson (Hart) loses his job due to his own error. He decides not to tell his wife Lori (Jasmine Mathews) right off and instead takes her on a vacation to celebrate her birthday.

Matters take a turn for the weird when Teddy gets mistaken for “The Man from Toronto”, a mysterious assassin. When the actual hired gun (Harrelson) shows up, the two find they must join forces to save both their hides.

When we last saw director Patrick Hughes, he made 2021’s Hitman’s Wife's Bodyguard. Before that, Hughes led 2017’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard.

Do we sense a theme?

After two straight assassin-based action-comedies, one might think Hughes would like to branch out with his next effort. The existence of Toronto indicates Hughes seems more than happy to become typecast as a filmmaker.

Neither of the two Bodyguard movies did much for me, but I admit the cast of Toronto gave me some room for hope. I can’t explain why, as the Bodyguard films boasted fine actors as well, but I thought maybe Hart and Harrelson would form such a lively pair that they’d elevate the potentially cheesy material.

Nope. Our leads essentially mail in their performances and can’t do anything to turn the flick into anything other than a total dud.

The “mistaken identity” theme has been a staple of stories for centuries, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Still, the theme needs some creativity and spark to make it work, factors woefully absent from this witless project.

The usually reliable Harrelson seems to understand the terrible quality of the script. As such, he sleepwalks through the movie.

Perhaps to compensate, Hart overdoes his part. Granted, Hart leans manic in his basic style anyway, but he comes across as close to self-parody via this obnoxious, unfunny performance.

Not that better engaged actors could save this stinker. Toronto indulges in one idiotic sequence after another and relies on ridiculous conceits to create its “plot”.

These just feel silly and undercut the project. Of course, a story like this will seem ludicrous on the surface anyway, but Toronto crams in so many coincidences and contrivances to harpoon any potential pleasures.

Perhaps a little intelligence could’ve made this watchable. The end product becomes an utterly moronic affair, unfortunately.

The Man from Toronto appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie offered appealing visuals.

Sharpness satisfied, with nary a soft spot on display. A few wider/darker scenes could be slightly ill-defined, but these remained in the minority.

Jagged edges and moiré effects remained absent, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws also failed to materialize.

Like most modern action flicks, Toronto went with an amber, orange or teal sense much of the time. Within those choices, the hues looked well-developed.

Blacks came across as dense and tight, and low-light shots demonstrated pretty nice clarity. This became a perfectly positive presentation.

Expect fairly good audio from the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Toronto. The forward domain dominated, as the movie featured solid stereo music and a good sense of environment. Elements meshed smoothly and moved across the spectrum well.

In addition, the surrounds added some pizzazz. The back speakers used music well, and effects also created a fine sense of place.

As for the quality of the audio, it seemed good. Speech always came across as natural and concise, with no edginess or other issues.

Music was bright and clean, while effects showed nice reproduction. Those elements came across as lively and dynamic, and low-end response appeared deep and firm. The film consistently boasted pleasing audio.

Six Deleted Scenes span a total of seven minutes, 26 seconds. Most of these offer exposition as well as some character beats. The movie already runs too long – and comes too devoid of entertainment – for me to wish any of these made the final cut.

The disc opens with ads for Fatherhood, 65, Big George Foreman and Bullet Train. No trailer for Toronto appears here.

Thanks to a talented cast, I hoped The Man from Toronto could churn humor from its contrived premise. Unfortunately, the movie becomes a witless chore to watch. The Blu-ray comes with strong picture and audio but it skimps on bonus materials. Avoid this awful film.