BEFORE: Linking from "Real Steel" was really tough tonight - I'd had something worked out, but an actress in a minor uncredited role shouldn't really count, so instead I had to dig deep and find that an actor named Miguel Sandoval played a judge (I assume a boxing judge) in "Real Steel", and he was also in the film "Fair Game" with Salma Hayek (last seen in 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico").
THE PLOT: A high school biology teacher looks to become a successful mixed-martial arts fighter in an effort to raise money to prevent music classes from being axed at his cash-strapped school.
AFTER: There's something almost noble about this film, because it has good intentions - the main message is that music class is important to public schools, and that's a message I can get behind. Unfortunately we're at a terrible crossroads in the economy, where programs are being slashed to balance budgets at the city and state level across the country (I assume? I admit, I'm kind of out of the loop when it comes to high-school kids.)
I participated in music programs in junior high and high-school, and my mother was an elementary school teacher for many years, so music was always part of my education. I wasn't allowed to play sports, so chorus and orchestra were my only chances to participate in activities with others. (OK, there was P.E. class, but I've repressed most of those memories...) So I agree that these programs are essential for a large number of teens.
But how can the average person help to save the music programs? Bake sales have fallen out of favor, because of childhood obesity and related diseases. And you can only hold so many car washes. This film suggests a new route to take - raising money by becoming a mixed martial-arts fighter.
Sure, it's not for everyone - but our hero used to wrestle in college, so he thinks he's prepared for the sport (he isn't). But there is a twist on the usual sports underdog story - he doesn't set out to win, he plans to lose, because even the losing fighters in this sport earn money, and he figures he can raise enough money just by participating and getting the stuffing beat out of him. It's the hardest way imaginable to raise $50,000 if you think about it. Jeez, you could probably recycle all the soda bottles at the school or...no, wait, that would be 1 million bottles, forget that. Martial arts it is.
As the teacher decides to pay it forward, he finds one of his ESL students (he moonlights) is also a former cage-fighter, so in exchange for fighting tips, he agrees to get him help to pass the U.S. citizenship exam. The tutor is a girl from the music program, and to free her up he needs to do a favor for her father, which involves his cousin who's a chef, and...look, it gets complicated, with everyone helping out someone else, but everyone benefits in the end.
It just so happens that this favor chain forms one of those "closed systems" that the teacher talks about in biology class. In that sense the favors all seem quite coincidental, so really the seams are showing from where the plot got stitched together from a list of character motivations, but again, somebody meant well.
It's also a little coincidental that his time in the Octagon turns out to be JUST the thing that energizes the school, lands him a date with the school nurse, AND gets him (and his students) excited about teaching again. But if you don't think too much about that, and just take it as a story about a man with a dream who tries to follow through and help people, it's fairly enjoyable.
Think of "The Rookie" mixed with "Mr. Holland's Opus"...
Also starring Kevin James, Bas Rutten, Joe Rogan, Gary Valentine (all four last seen or heard in "Zookeeper"), Henry Winkler, Greg Germann (last seen in "Once Around").
RATING: 5 out of 10 mouth guards
No comments:
Post a Comment