WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL – The Review

Once again it’s game time at the multiplex. Now, we’re not talking about flicks based on popular video games or even board games (you may remember it, but Hollywood still wants to forget BATTLESHIP). Nope we’re about to see another look at, perhaps, this country’s second favorite national past time. The first would still be baseball and early this Summer MILLION DOLLAR ARM gave it an international twist to mostly mediocre box office. We’re nearing the end of August so most sports buffs are getting revved up for the return of football. Earlier in the year we got a spirited look behind the scenes at the business side of the NFL with Ivan Reitman’s DRAFT DAY (which echoed that baseball biz hit from a few years ago MONEYBALL). But this new flick doesn’t concern itself with big contracts and agents. Like previous hits REMEMBER THE TITANS and FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, this movie harkens back to the purest form of the game, high school football. It’s about the fellas’ who play for the unabashed love of the sport and the underpaid, overworked coaches that inspire them. For many “pigskin” fans that is WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL.

The film’s opening title cards tell us of the remarkable winning streak achieved by Concord California’s De La Salle High School Varsity Spartans football team. In 2003 they ended the season with their record-setting 151st victory. But head coach Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel) will not rest on his laurels. He’s got to get the returning juniors ready for the next season, making sure they don’t focus on the streak, but instead to strive to give the “perfect effort’ on and off the field. His wife Bev is there for support, but wants him to spend more time at home and perhaps just consider the lucrative collegian coaching job offers. A medical crisis complicates things as does the horrific loss of a former star athlete. Luckily Bob’s assistant coach Terry Eidson (Michael Chiklis) and staff are also in his corner. During the upcoming year the team must deal with personality clashes and outside pressures (the media and pushy parents) when these champs suddenly become the underdogs as Bob tries to redirect their focus on the things that are truly important.

The story’s main focus is the guidance of Ladouceur who is played with stoic strength by Caviezel, who seems to almost be channeling Gary Cooper. He’s the epitome’ of the strong, silent type which doesn’t draw the audience to the character. Perhaps he emulated the man who see in the end-credit archival footage too closely. That “calm in the storm” portrayal is tough to invest in, even during the unexpected disasters. The charming Chiklis is regulated to the standard comic relief foil as the bumbling, balding, chunky pal of the somber leading man. It was only a few weeks ago that Dern was scrambling to hold the family together in THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (both films have frantic 911 calls!), and now she’s another supportive wife and mother in peaceful suburbia. Dern’s terrific, of course, but she’s teetering on the edge of Hollywood’s type-casting pit. The movie’s full of energetic, fresh-faced young actors led by Alexander Ludwig following up his great role in LONE SURVIVOR as the conflicted gridiron star pressured to break the touchdown record. Most of said pressure comes from his overbearing father played with teeth-gnashing relish by Clancy Brown. He’s all the stories of awful “sports dads” rolled into one bellowing bully, the closest the flick gets to a real villain and Brown injects some needed energy into the solemn proceedings.

Well, there are a couple of villainous gangs. In a hot-tempered shout-down meeting, Bob’s rival division coaches almost demand his head (“The streak! The high scores! They must be cheating!!”). But the real heat occurs during the sweltering (high nineties) game with the gigantic, ill-tempered Long Beach team in the movie’s most grueling match-up. Other than these sequences, the movie plays like a more glossy version of any inspirational made for basic cable movie. It’s the old obstacle, obstacle, pep-talk, triumph, fade-out sports flick tango. Plus, the product placement demon reared its ugly head. Often. From the beverage and sports drinks (don’t hide them logos!) to the nationwide sports equipment retail chain (we get a big dramatic scene right in the store’s front entrance complete with big logo-splattered shopping bags). It always takes me right out of the film! Enough, already! For many movie fans, the film may seem like a “best of” (the training, the locker room, etc.) film compilation (for the real deal, check out the very compelling 2011 Oscar-winning doc UNDEAFEATED). But if you’re a football fan that’s counting down the days, WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL may get you occupied till the first kick-off.

2.5 Out of 5