Alec Baldwin's Unintentionally Hilarious Thriller Is as Entertaining as Ever

Published Oct 7, 2026, 5:08 AM EDT

Charlie Ridgely is a writer from Maryland, currently residing in Nashville, Tennessee. He may be new to Collider, but he's been writing, editing, conducting interviews, and podcasting around the industry for 10 years. From 2016 to the start of 2026, Charlie was a full time writer and critic at ComicBook.com. A lifelong movie fan, avid reader, and renowned (fictional) dungeon explorer/dragonslayer, Charlie is a jack-of-all-trades throughout the fandom multiverse and has covered everything under the sun. 

Sometimes a serious movie can take itself a little too seriously, and end up becoming more of a joke than the thriller or drama it was intended to be. Movies from the '80s and '90s have an easy time falling into this trap as time goes on, and many of them tend to age more poorly than expected. Every once in a while, though, you get the best of both worlds, and a solid mid-budget movie from decades past remains a solid movie while simultaneously also becoming a bit of a meme in its own right.

That's what happened with the 1997 thriller The Edge, starring Alec Baldwin, Anthony Hopkins, and Harold Perrineau as business associates whose plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness. As they try to survive the elements and find a way to get help, the men end up on the run from a killer Kodiak bear.

The movie is an intense survival thriller that pits man against the elements of nature, and it still works in that regard nearly 30 years later. However, if you've come across any footage of The Edge recently, it's likely because of a meme that has emerged in the era of streaming, in which Baldwin spends minutes saying nothing but the name "Charles."

'The Edge" Getting the Meme Treatment

Image Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

It sounds a little ridiculous, but you may be underestimating just how many times (and in how many different ways) one man can say somebody else's name in a single feature film. Over the course of The Edge's 117-minute runtime, Baldwin says or yells "Charles" — the name of Hopkins' character — a total of 113 times. That's almost once per every minute of the movie. And remember, that runtime includes the credits and any scenes in which Baldwin's character isn't on-screen, so he's really out in the wood yelling "Charles" much more often than once every minute that he's actually in the movie.

Baldwin can have a real manic, over-the-top energy in The Edge, which works well for the heightened stakes of the film. But it also makes the whole "Charles" situation even more hilarious, because he often seems like he's losing his mind when he says it. It's especially funny when you watch a super cut of Baldwin's "Charles" quotes from throughout the movie. Removed from the context of the plot of The Edge, Baldwin's deliveries are downright hysterical.

It also sounds like Baldwin doesn't have a consistent accent when saying his fellow character's name over the course of The Edge, which is extra confusing when you realize that Baldwin isn't speaking with an accent in the movie. He's just using his regular voice, but the way he says "Charles" changes all the time.

Despite the ridiculous antics of Baldwin's name-dropping throughout The Edge, the actual action of the movie is still pretty exciting to watch today. The scenes that pit Baldwin and Hopkins against the bear are especially solid, with the use of an actual trained stunt bear (Hollywood veteran Bart the Bear) helping to ground the action in a way we don't see too often anymore.

'The Edge' Is Streaming Free

If you've seen the memes or "Charles" compilation videos, there's a good chance you got curious enough about The Edge to want to check out the actual movie. Fortunately, the thriller is incredibly accessible at the moment, and you can stream it for free on Tubi. Sure, you'll have to watch a few ads throughout the movie, which isn't ideal, but it beats paying for another subscription service.

And if you're not a big fan of commercials, you can always check out your local library for a DVD copy of The Edge. Blockbuster may not be around anymore, but a lot of people tend to forget that most library systems carry enormous movie collections shelved alongside their books.

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  Alec Baldwin

  Robert Green

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  Charles Morse

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  Elle MacPherson

  Mickey Morse

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  Stephen