A troubled man struggles to find his path through the game of basketball. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that Ben Affleck plays such a convincing alcoholic? Regardless, his beard is amazing.
FAST FACTS
REPORTED BUDGET: $25 million
OPENING DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE: $8 million
OPENING WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: $9 million
ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS / AUDIENCE SCORE: 86% / 84%
CINEMA SCORE: B+
END CREDIT: No
NON-SPOILER REVIEW!
Jack Cunningham (played by Ben Affleck) is a former basketball star who is asked to coach at the high school where he's a legend. Troubled by his past and his dependency on alcohol, Jack must overcome some obstacles along the way in order to find peace in his life.
This movie by Gavin O'Connor is rated R for some aggressive language as well as displays of heavy alcoholism throughout the film. I'd think twice before taking my young child to see this movie. If you're expecting Hoosiers, this movie is much darker.
Ben Affleck does a great job of showing the struggles of an addiction while trying to inspire change in a basketball program. The other major roles include Janina Gavankar (Jack's ex-wife), Michaela Watkins (Jack's sister), and Al Madrigal (assistant basketball coach). The basketball players don't get much character development. The only two that do are Brandon (played by Brandon Wilson) and Marcus (played by Melvin Gregg).
If you're coming to this movie for basketball, there are scenes of a few practices where Jack assesses the team and a few abbreviated game clips that illustrate the progress of the team under Jack's leadership.
Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of how they filmed the basketball action. They made you feel as though you were on the court with the players, but the view was a little off for me. I wished that I was able to see more of the action. However, they did a really good job of keeping you updated with the scores of the games without using blatant views of the scoreboard. They'd blur it out in the background, though not to the point you couldn't make out the numbers. I thought it was well done.
OVERALL RECOMMENDATION
Throughout the movie I was going back and forth with things that I did or didn't like about it. Ultimately, there was a point in the movie where I definitively bought in to the story they were trying to tell. Is it Hoosiers? No, but I think it puts its own unique spin on the sports movie genre, which should mean quite a lot.
My Rating: B
If you're a basketball fan, there is definitely enough here to keep your attention. If you are looking for a deeper drama about the human struggle, then this movie satisfies that as well. I feel like this movie would be fine for streaming or Redbox.
SPOILER REVIEW!
The movie begins with several minutes of Jack establishing that he has an alcohol problem. This problem is reiterated throughout the movie. I'd wager there might be about twenty minutes of Ben Affleck drinking on screen. Jack receives a phone call from the high school where he was a basketball star, wanting him to be the new coach.
Jack reluctantly accepts the job and sets to work trying break bad habits - both the team's style of play and his own alcoholism. This is where you begin to see the typical inspirational sports movie: coach has a habit that he kicks for the good of the kids he's coaching, and the team slowly improves miraculously under his surprising ability to lead. Montages of games are shown, followed by them implementing new styles of play, Jack having conversations or confrontations with certain players, and eventually them turning their season around.
One might think that this would be where the movie ends: everyone happy with their shocking success of reaching the playoffs for the first time since Jack himself played. Instead, this is the point in the movie where I bought into their story. The fairytale sports movie takes a dark turn when Jack is confronted about some of his alcoholic tendencies.
As the basketball narrative is playing out on the court, off the court we see more of Jack's personal life. We learn that Jack was married and even had a kid, whom he never mentions. We ultimately come to learn that their child died of an illness around the age of ten, sending Jack into a depressed state of self-harm via alcohol abuse, which ultimately ended his marriage.
Jack and his ex-wife, Angela, are called by a mutual friend to come to the hospital for support, as their son has relapsed. While in the hospital, Jack recalls memories of his own son being in a hospital bed. Unable to tolerate the memories, he rushes out of the hospital to the only escape he's known since his son passed away: the bar. He shows up late to practice the next morning, clearly still intoxicated. Dan, the assistant coach, goes to the administration after the incident, worried about Jack's well-being. They make the decision for Jack to resign his post immediately.
A self-destructive night ensues where Jack drives under the influence, crashes into someone's boat parked on the street, and then wanders in to the wrong home. After being aggressively thrown out of the house and down some stairs, Jack ends up in the hospital. Jack starts therapy to begin dealing with the loss of his son, end of his marriage, and how he can move forward as a productive member of society.
Do we get a happy ending? Sure. The basketball team plays well in their playoff game, and Jack seems to be doing well in therapy (I know I'd find playing basketball next to the ocean therapeutic). I appreciate the movie didn't try to make this a cookie-cutter type of film. They added layers of depth and took the ending in a completely different direction than one might be expecting. My one critique might be that the first two-thirds of the movie seem muddled. O'Connor tries to fit in two narratives that ultimately, take away from each other.
Not the cleanest story ever told, but it is an ambitious effort that warrants a positive recommendation from me.
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