BEFORE: Michaela Watkins carries over from "Brittany Runs a Marathon", plus it's her third film of the week, she was also in "Brigsby Bear", non-consecutively. But I've also programmed back-to-back films about sports, so I guess that's something.
THE PLOT: Jack Cunningham was a high-school basketball phenom who walked away from the game, forfeiting his future. Years later, when he reluctantly accepts a coaching job at his alma mater, he may get one last shot at redemption.
AFTER: See, now I'm starting to wonder if the universe is trying to tell me something again, through my movie choices. I know I set up this chain months ago, so this couldn't be anything but random coincidence, but I've seen too many of these coincidences to believe that's what's going on. Just when I've resigned myself to sticking with the new job at the movie theater for a while, the same job I had thirty years ago, I watch a movie with a character who goes back to coach basketball at his old school, where he played thirty or so years ago. And yesterday's film was about a woman starting to exercise in order to lose some weight, and since my job is more physical than what I'm used to, it counts as exercise for me, and I'm starting to lose some weight. I have to tell you, it's a bit eerie. Is there a film I can watch about somebody landing the producing job of his dreams and then quitting his minimum-wage side hustle? Somebody let me know, maybe it could help me out.
Look, I know that coaching basketball and my current situation don't have that much in common, but we see ourselves in the movies we watch sometimes, especially when films try to have universal themes or focus on characters that are "everyman" types, and that often means people who don't succeed. Because if you think about it, like 99% of people aren't phenomenal successes at what they do, just look at actors - maybe 1 in 100 actors has the name recognition of a Ben Affleck or a Keanu Reeves, the vast majority of them are hard-working, but also very interchangeable types, like Todd Stashwick or Anthony Carrigan. (Those last two are maybe bad examples, because they fall into the "Hey, it's THAT guy!" category, notably that guy from the "12 Monkeys" TV show and that guy who played Zsasz on "Gotham". But maybe that's just me.)
So in any line of work, trading stocks or running restaurants or even politics, most people are not going to encounter tremendous success, because it's all a numbers game, and not everybody can be successful. Sports movies try to bend that curve, in a way, because who wants to watch a movie about a team that assembles a bunch of ragtag misfits, tries really hard, shows a lot of heart, and then falls short? But think about how many professional baseball, football or basketball teams there are, and only ONE gets to have a winning season each year - you see my point, right? It's a numbers game, only one out of the 30 or 36 teams in that league is going to come out on top.
THIS may be that movie, though, the one about the team that's made up of the unlikely, ragtag misfits, the team that tries really hard, shows a lot of heart and then comes up a bit short - I can't really tell you here, because no spoilers, but if you've seen this film, you know that this film is just as much about failure as it is about success, and that in itself is a little refreshing. In most sports-based films it's so clear-cut who they want you to root for, and then you'd be a fool to bet against that team pulling out an unlikely and unexpected victory, in an unlikely and unexpected way.
The question becomes, can Jack stop letting his personal life get in the way of his new gig, coaching the teens from his old school? Can he stop swearing in front of the priests? Can he stop drinking long enough to get it together? Can he put his marriage back on track, or is his wife just ready to move on? Late in the film, we do learn a bit more about what derailed the marriage in the first place, and perhaps once you find this out, you can forgive Jack his sins, or perhaps not, I suppose that's up to you. We also learn more about why Jack didn't accept the basketball scholarship he was offered, and perhaps when you find this out, you can forgive Jack for not following through, or perhaps not, again, it's up to you.
But either way, you have to accept that Jack is a screw-up, and he's been self-sabotaging himself for years. Maybe you'll see a bit of yourself in Jack, as I did, or maybe not. Maybe Ben Affleck saw a bit of himself in Jack, and that's why he took the role, who can say? Or maybe you just want to watch some basketball being played, and that's OK too, just be aware that the movie's going to give you a lot of stuff about redemption and personal responsibility along with it. Maybe right now we're all trying to find our way back to something, to what we had before, only we may find out that there is no way back, only forward, and that can be a tough thing to come to terms with.
Also starring Ben Affleck (last seen in "Jay and SIlent Bob Reboot"), Al Madrigal (last seen in "Snatched"), Janina Gavankar, Glynn Turman (last seen in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"), Brandon Wilson, Charles Lott Jr., Will Ropp, Fernando Luis Vega, Rachael Carpani, Marlene Forte (last seen in "Knives Out"), Melvin Gregg, Ben Irving, Jeremy Radin (last seen in "The New World"), John Aylward (last seen in "North Country"), Da'Vinchi, Matthew Glave (last seen in "First Man"), Todd Stashwick (last seen in "You, Me and Dupree"), Chris Bruno, Dan Lauria (last seen in "Another Stakeout"), Nancy Linehan Charles (last seen in "Charlie Wilson's War'), T.K. Carter (last seen in "The Thing" (1982)), Jeremy Ratchford (last seen in "Jersey Boys"), Jayne Taini, Sal Velez Jr., Yeniffer Behrens, Eric Tate, with an uncredited cameo by Hayes MacArthur (last seen in "Super Troopers 2", but remember this for tomorrow...)
RATING: 6 out of 10 free throws
No comments:
Post a Comment