American Underdog

As I've mentioned in several reviews prior, we have seen many biopics on the silver screen, but even more to the point, there have been many sports biopics in which to ponder over, i.e. "Knute Rockne All American" '40, "Brian's Song" (TV movie) '71, "Remember the Titans" 2000 "Invincible" '06, to mention a few. Now, we have the quintessential underdog film appropriately called "American Underdog". 

"American Underdog" tells the inspirational true story of Kurt Warner (Zachary Levi), who went from a stockboy at a grocery store to a two-time NFL MVP, Super Bowl champion, and Hall of Fame Quarterback. The film centers on Warner's unique story and years of challenges and setbacks that could have derailed his aspirations to become an NFL player--but when his dreams seemed all but out of reach, it is only with the support of his wife, Brenda (Anna Paquin) and the encouragement of his family namely Zack, his son (Hayden Zaller), coaches, namely Jim Foster (Bruce McGill) and Dick Vermeil (Dennis Quaid), and teammates, namely Mike Hudnutt (Ser'Darius Blain) that Warner perseveres and finds the strength to show the world the champion that he already is. 

Others to round out the cast are Chance Kelly as Coach Mike Martz, Cindy Hogan as Sue Warner, Adam Baldwin as Terry Allen, Danny Vinson as Larry, McKylin Rowe as Marshall and Brett Varvel as Steve "Mooch" Mariucci.

This was delineated with clarity by directors Andrew Erwin ("The Cross and the Towers" (documentary) '06, "Alumni" (TV movie) '09, "October Baby" '11, "Moms' Night Out" '14, "Woodlawn" '15, "I Can Only Imagine" '18, "I Still Believe" '20, "The Jesus Music" (documentary) '21) plus TV and videos, and Jon Erwin (the above resume plus "Fully Alive" '12). Whether these two brothers direct films based on true stories or are fiction, they are able to clearly demonstrate the emotion of the characters they are having their actors to emit--this film is absolutely no exception. I always know that when I see one of their films, it will be an incredibly well crafted film. It was heart-wrenchingly written by Jon Erwin, David Aaron Cohen and Jon Gunn, based on the inspirational book "All Things Possible" by Kurt Warner with Michael Silver. It was written with such pathos, grit, determination and heart that it will leave you cheering for this football player. The script was concise, cohesive and tight while tugging on the audiences' hearts without getting mired down with sentimentality. These writers having the amount of feature film experience as they had certainly helped in this screenplay being the film it wanted to be. These directing and writing brothers simply rock!

Whether football films are your thing or not, this film will captivate your attention as we learn that much more of this football legend. Zachary Levi as Kurt and Anna Paquin as Brenda were amazingly believable in their respective roles. This is a great family film, because of the values, compassion and redemption this story exudes. Go see this film--you won't be disappointed!

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                        Rated: PG                                                     113mins.