MY ALL AMERICAN – The Review

Well, the temps are dropping, and the leaves are changing. That can only mean one thing: better check on furnace. Or get the old rake out. Of course, that’s unless you’re a sports fan. Then, for the most part, it’s football all the time (just seems like it to the rest of us). And what better way to lure those fans away from their TVs and bars? Why Hollywood has been passing the ole’ pigskin for decades, even before sound (Harold Lloyd in THE FRESHMAN has quite a spectacular final game). There are comedies and dramas, the latter has mostly been the province of the true story. JIM THORPE, ALL AMERICAN (as was coach Knute Rockne) and INVINCIBLE to name a few. And, of course, there’s that much beloved crowd-pleaser RUDY. Well, all you gridiron movie lovers, here’s a new flick from the same fellow that penned that underdog story. Let’s suit up and hit the field, or the multiplex, for MY ALL AMERICAN.

As the story starts it’s 2010 as an eager young reporter quizzes long-retired University of Texas football head coach, Darrell Royal (Aaron Eckhart) about the players he’s worked with during his illustrious career. The young scribe rattles off the names of several All America winners. But the player that Royal recalls is Freddie Steinmark. She reminds him that Freddie was not an All American, to which the coach replies, “He was my All American”. We then flash rapidly back (you could get a whiplash) to the 1960’s as we see little Freddie playing “pee wee” football in Colorado. He was smaller that the other lads, so he had to try harder. And train extra, under the stern guidance of his father, Fred senior (Michael Reilly Burke). Jump to high school and Freddie (Finn Whittrock) still hasn’t gotten that growth spurt, but he still trains after school with Dad, and he’s the star safety on the team, forging a bond with the much larger Bobby Mitchell (Rett Terrell). Oh, and he attracts the eye of a pretty classmate, Linda Wheeler (Sarah Bolger). As graduation looms, the mailbox is full of rejection letters from colleges. He’s just too short to be taken seriously. Luckily his coach has an in with the staff of the University of Texas Longhorns. Impressed by game footage, Coach Royal offers Freddie and Bobby full scholarships. Plus Linda’s going to school there too! The tenacious Freddie earns the respect of the coach and the senior players and is soon an important part of the Longhorn’s winning season. But one day, on a picnic with Linda, Freddie’s legs begins to throb with pain. She insists he see a doctor. He agrees to, but only after the season ending bowl games. But coach Royal notices his limp. Is it just tired muscles or something very serious…?

Although Eckhart is the most prominently featured actor in the film’s marketing and poster, he’s really in a supporting part. After his awkward old age makeup (barely sold with his halting line delivery), in the first minute or so, we don’t see him for a good half hour when he’s in full coach-mode. Then he’s barking out orders during practice and giving stern pep talks (while glaring at his team). His demeanor does finally warm up and Royce becomes a tough and tender mentor/father figure to the player at the heart of this story. Of course that’s Steinmark played maximum earnestness by Whittrock as the son/boyfriend/pal that most people can only dream of knowing. He’s all focused forward-motion until the fates throw him a curveball (wrong sport, I know). Whittrock admirably balances the role’s sweetness and competitive nature. It’s easy to see how he got on the radar of Linda played by Bolger as the devoted girl next door, stunned and stumbling at their first meeting. Her infatuation morphs into a real romance and Bolger doesn’t make her a flighty, flirty bit of arm candy, but a true partner in life off the field. Terrell at first seems to be the stronger, but his Bobby benefits from Freddie’s friendship. Burke has little to do beside gazing into a stop watch, but his stoic daddy is balanced by Robin Tunney giving a warm, nurturing take on the heart of the household, mamma Gloria.

As I stated earlier, this is from RUDY (and HOOSIERS) screenwriter Angelo Pizzo (adapting Jim Dent’s book), plus it’s his first time directing. He seems to adhere to the inspirational sports story formula. Perhaps he adheres a tad too much as the film seems to be throwing passes right into cliché territory. Often it seems to be filling time before the next big game, with often seen slow-motion shots of seemingly impossible aeronautics (bodies in full triple-flips) accompanied by amped-up audio of bones-crunching and helmets cracking (it’s nearly an appetizer for the upcoming football medical drama with Will Smith, CONCUSSION). Yes, Freddie is height-challenged like Rudy, but its second half sets the film squarely in the “sports tear-jerker” territory making one (I recalled the brilliant “Terminal Football” radio sketch from the recent National Lampoon documentary) think of the 70’s classic made-for-TV “Brian’s Song”, and going further back to KNUTE ROCKNE, ALL AMERICAN and its story of George Gipp (played by future prez Ronald Reagan). So, yes Freddie becomes a late sixties “Gipper”. The marketers of this film appear to be making a play for the “faith-based” film fans that made WAR ROOM an unexpected hit by making sure that every college montage includes a bit of Freddie in the UT chapel, but aside from a clumsy bit about a Vietnam War loss (and a “filthy hippie” straight from FOREST GUMP) this element isn’t that exploited. This is one of the film’s few subtleties, since it’s saddled with a bombastic swelling, uplifting score designed to hammer away at the heart-strings, Pizzo uses it to  pummel away at every dramatic moment to the point of exhaustion. This all contributes to the near canonization of the film’s hero. Steinmark becomes a symbol of all this is good in sports and America, but stripping away his complexity (well, he is stubborn about his health) takes away from his humanity. We’re left with this smiling image at the stadium, rather than a flesh and blood person. MY ALL AMERICAN is an upgraded cable-TV tear-jerking sport biopic that never veers away from the playbook to make the story as special as its subject.

2.5 Out of 5