THE MIRACLE SEASON – Review

Once more the multiplex turns into a “rec center” for another sports-themed flick (after all, the Olympic torch was extinguished more than a month ago). Oh, and this is another “inspired by true events’ athletic film, which usually means a tale of tragedy and ultimate triumph. It’s been a winning movie formula for decades, from THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES to WE ARE MARSHALL to 2016’s BLEED FOR THIS. Fate throws a curve at a plucky young athlete, forcing them to pick up the pieces and return to the arena (or field, or ring, etc.) by sheer force of will along with a winning spirit and attitude. Sure, there are countless docudramas set in the competitive worlds of baseball, football, basketball, even soccer. This new release highlights a sport rarely seen in feature films, aside from bits in bikini beach fluff and that TOP GUN shirtless hunk fantasy, namely the indoor/outdoor team game of volleyball. Women’s high school volleyball to be most precise. So let’s just see if the producers of THE MIRACLE SEASON can “put one over the net”.

We fade in on two adorable little blond girls six or seven years old, Caroline and Kelly, as they frolic around and in a barn on a warm sunny day. While the narrator muses about that one “special friend”, the pre-teen duo dissolve into energetic blond seventeen year-old women. Caroline ‘Line’ Found (Danika Yarosh) and her “bestest” pal Terry (Erin Moriarty) are just about to begin their senior year at Iowa City West in 2011. And if that wasn’t exciting enough, they’re both on the woman’s volleyball team which hopes to snag the state championship for a second year in a row. Coach Kathy Bresnahan (Helen Hunt) has high hopes that Line will take her role as team captain seriously. But Line’s also concerned about her seriously ill mother Ellyn (Jillian Fargey), who’s in the hospital once more. Luckily her surgeon papa Ernie (William Hurt) tries to keep her and her teammates in high spirits thanks to his amateur magic tricks. He even lets them throw a post-season opener game party in his old barn. But as the festivities wing down, Line hops on her moped (without dad’s knowledge) and drives into the night for a late hospital visit with mom. Hours later Ernie is awakened by policemen at his front door with the awful news. An accident has taken his sweet Caroline. The school is devastated, and the team forfeits the nest few games. Then Coach Kathy makes a tough decision: the season must go on. After much discussion, she convinces a still heartbroken Kelly to rally the team and assume Line’s former position as center and share the role of captain. But with such a hole in the heart of the “Women of Troy” squad, can they bounce back and head back to finals? Will they “win it for ‘Line”?

The film features a couple of “on the rise” young actresses along with two Oscar-winning screen vets. The story narrator and primary focus is Moriarty as the resilient Kelly. She confidently rides the character’s roller coaster of emotions, from free-spirited optimist to grieving fiend to determined leader. Along the way Kelly also begins a tentative first romance while having to “hit the books” and take the game much more seriously. Moriarty’s doing most of the script’s “heavy lifting” while Yarosh must be the wide-eyed super-positive life force, a sweet-natured sprite sharing her “good vibes” with teammates and adults equally. Yarosh’s bounding through every setting, literally an “Earth angel”, who’s there to cheer up her ailing mom and her sometimes sour coach. As Coach Kathy, Hunt expertly channels her tough previous screen and TV personas making us believe her as a taciturn taskmaster that could mold these giggly young ladies into a finely attuned point-scoring machine. After the tragedy we see part of her hard exterior begin to crack , but then Hunt shows her transforming the anguish into action. That’s an emotion that Hurt conveys as the devastated dad, along with an anger at the terrible hand he’s been dealt. Here Hurt also gets to display a puckish, playful side in the first act, delighting himself and the kids with sleight-of-hand skills. By the final act he returns to this impish charmer when his Ernie accepts his new life and rejoins the world after a try at isolation.

As with many films released during the start of the new year, this could easily have been a made for TV flicks (think basic cable, perhaps Lifetime or Hallmark, even Disney or Freeform), its theatrical distribution hastened by the two veteran stars. Director Sean McNamara seems to be framing his film for eventual broadcast, going from close-ups to two shots that linger long enough for a fade out to commercial. And, try has he does with some quick edits, the sport of volleyball just does lend itself to cinema like boxing or baseball. He must always shift to the off court announcer or radio “color” commentator to relay the missteps and nuances of play. Away from the matches, we get dreamy shots of a perfect main street (looking like a certain “wonderful” theme park entrance) with cute lil’ shops run by a very diverse citizenry (actually Canada doubling for Iowa, guess Georgia was booked). The same can be said of the squeaky clean schools and gyms (very little classwork to get in the way of the games). And the characters in front of those sets are too idealized, particularly the doomed first captain, who’s only downbeat for a few seconds before she’s bouncing away again. Her pal Kelly gets the same treatment in the second half, though they try to inject some life with a bland romance (her beau spends most of his limited screen time smiling like an adoring puppy). The marketers seem to be appealing to faith-based audiences by linking this flick to SOUL SURFER, but they may feel short-changed since Ernie’s loss of belief only takes up a few minutes in a couple of scenes. Yes, the true tale has tragedy, but the other big sorrow for film fans may be the fact that Hunt, who got the Oscar 20 years ago, and Hurt, over 30 years, signed on for this soggy script. Let’s hope their careers rebound (wrong sport) from THE MIRACLE SEASON.

1.5 Out of 5