2007. At 59 years old, Mike Flynt (Michael Chiklis) may be too old to be on a college football field, but not too old to feel the weight of unfinished business. After nearly four decades, in this film based on a true story, he returns to his alma mater to take the hit that changed everything. Bruised, doubted, and nearly broken, he pushes for one more game, not for glory, but for the teammates he lost, the family he fractured, and the ending he still believes is possible. Through the support of his wife, Eileen (Mary Stuart Masterson), his coach, Sam Weston (Rob Corddry), his teammates, Jeremy Cartwright (Corey Knight), Jamal Johnson (Terayle Hill), Fernie Acosta (Chris Setticase), and even his son, Micah (Brandon Flynn), and others, Mike was able to get to that place of realizing who he was and who was truly on his side.
Others to round out the cast are James Badge Dale as J.V. Flynt, Mike's father, Shawn Patrick Clifford as 22-year-old Mike, Taylor Fono as 18-year-old Eileen, Gail Cronauer as Pat Flynt, Mike's mother, Steven Van Tiflin as Kyle and Lance Allen Kramer as Randy.
This was directed with pathos and grit by Rod Lurie ("Deterrence" '99, "The Contender" 2000, "The Last Castle" '01, Resurrecting the Champ" '07, "I'm Paige Wilson" (TV movie) '07, "Speechless" (TV movie) '08, "Nothing But the Truth" '08, "Straw Dogs" '11, "The Surgeon General" (TV movie) '13, "Killing Reagan" (TV movie) '16, "Monsters of God" (TV movie) '17, "The Outpost" '19) plus TV and shorts. Certainly a fair amount of the films this director has helmed have had a similar feel to them, but he knows what genre and subject matter works for him and can't be blamed for that. His ability to encourage his actors to dig deep to find those characteristics for their roles is amazing, and this film is no exception. Chiklis gave a riveting performance as this ex-football player wanting and needing to redeem himself by, after all these years, to re-invest himself back on the gridiron. It was equally well penned by writer Robert Eisele ("Breach of Contract" '82, "Last Night" (TV movie) '93, "Vanishing Son" (TV movie) '95, "The Great Debaters" '07, "Hurricane Season" '09) plus other TV movies, TV and a video. By the sheer amount of films this writer has been involved with, he is certainly a seasoned writer and has proven himself with a tight, cohesive script which this film has. It was sequenced well and was able to bring his audience the knowledge of this real person and what he had to endure in his life.
If you like football and/or films based on true stories, this is the film for you. It has it all: drama, fear, humor, pathos, and redemption all rolled up in an amazing story about this aged athlete ready to make a comback--this is the quintessential underdog film where it creates a want from the audience to stand up and cheer, and isn't this a film we all could use right now?
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: PG 100mins.
No comments:
Post a Comment