Under The Cherry Moon (1986) * 1/2

Directed by:  Prince

Starring: Prince, Jerome Benton, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Steven Berkoff, Francesca Annis

Under The Cherry Moon is a vanity project run amok.    It should have been stopped at the development stage.    I do not know whose idea it was to have Prince make his directorial debut with a black and white film in which he plays a French Riviera gigolo, but someone should have had the sense to say no.   Prince was so big at the time that he probably did not hear no that often.    The movie proves two things:  Prince is a much better singer than actor, and he is a better actor than he is a director.   

Prince spends a lot of time pursing his lips and ogling women in a way that would have them seconds away from calling 911.    When we see Christopher (Prince) making eye contact with Mary (Scott-Thomas), the trust fund baby who is the target of his scheme to enrich himself, we experience serial killer vibes.    As Under The Cherry Moon opens, Christopher is a club pianist and part-time gigolo.    Or is he a full-time gigolo and a part-time pianist?    Either way, he makes good money romancing rich, older, lonely women, but not enough to move out of his shitty apartment he shares with his friend Tricky (Benton).    What exactly is the relationship between Tricky and Christopher?   Tricky sits by the tub while Christopher takes a bubble bath and well, the vibes suggest that surely they're gay, right? 

Benton was also in Prince's Purple Rain (1984) playing the guy who followed Morris Day around with a mirror.    There is no mirror this time around, but he is essentially playing the worshipful follower once again.    He is forever bending Christopher's ear about landing the big score so they could move back to Miami.    I think it is briefly explained that they owe people money in Miami.   
Christopher, nonetheless, saunters around the Riviera wearing clothes that would shame Liberace.  

The look of the film suggests a throwback to 1930's and 40's B-movies in which everyone smoked and drank a lot in exotic places.    The exterior shots (and parts of the film) are edited so clumsily and hastily that a homemade YouTube video using the same footage would be superior in quality.    I do not know who assumed that moviegoers were clamoring for a revisit to these old movies, but that person was mistaken.    However, even though the cars are older model cars and the people behave like they were attending extravagant parties thrown in the 1950's, there are answering machines and modern day conveniences as well.    This may explain the use of black and white photography, but doesn't excuse it.

Prince was more in his element as a rocker in Purple Rain.    The film was basically one long music video, but there were some good songs.    The soundtrack to Under The Cherry Moon is music performed by Prince, but other than the ubiquitous Kiss, the songs are forgettable.    There is even a point in which the movie stops dead so Prince, er Christopher, can belt out a Prince tune which sounds anachronistic for a movie that looks and acts like it is set in the 50's.   

As played by Prince, Christopher is such a narcissistic, silly twerp that we can't buy him as a gigolo or even a reforming gigolo who falls for Mary.   Christopher even dons sunglasses in the dead of night while stealing Mary away from a flight which would reunite her with her unseen fiancé.    This suggests that even in a scene where he is pouring his heart to his love, he is too cool for the room.   Benton provides some comic relief as the perpetual sidekick who may be half in love with Christopher.    The other actors, including Steven Berkoff as Mary's dickhead father who wants to keep she and Christopher apart, and Francesca Annis as one of Christopher's clients who is also sleeping with Berkoff, are veterans who do their best to work with the material they have.  

Did I mention that Prince takes this story that is as old as the hills so seriously?   He thinks no one has seen a romantic movie before in which a gigolo/moneygrubber reforms his ways and expresses his true love for one woman.    Such material can be made fresh with style and energy, but Under The Cherry Moon lacks both.    A fatal error is casting Prince in the lead, because he comes off as an aloof creep with whom we can't sympathize. 

I pity actors like Scott-Thomas, Berkoff, and Annis, who toiled away for years in theater and drama classes only to play second fiddle to Jerome Benton and Prince.    Acting is such an unforgiving, cold profession.  

Fargo (1996) * * * *

Directed by:  Joel Coen

Starring:  Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Kristin Rudrud, Harve Presnell, John Carroll Lynch

Marge Gunderson is among the unique characters in the movies.   She is a skilled police officer whom people may underestimate because she is cheerful and uses phrases like "You betcha."   She has yet to be worn down by the daily grind of being the chief of Brainerd, Minnesota's police department.     Frances McDormand creates a special, three-dimensional person and rightfully earned her Best Actress Oscar for the role. 

Marge doesn't appear until about roughly thirty minutes into Fargo.  She is woken up in the middle of the night to investigate a grisly murder scene involving three murdered people (including one highway trooper) and a flipped-over car.   She intuitively recreates the scene to her deputy Lou pretty much as it happened.   She is also many months pregnant and suffers bouts of morning sickness in between eating big meals at buffets.   

But I'll backtrack a little to what drew Marge into this mess.    Fargo opens with an auto salesman named Jerry (Macy), who works at his father-in-law's dealership.    He wants to get out from under the thumb of his stubborn father-in-law.   How will he do that?   By hiring two thugs from Fargo, ND to kidnap his wife and ask for ransom.    Jerry instructs the thugs named Carl and Gaer (Buscemi and Stormare) to ask for $80,000.    Jerry has other ideas.    He tells his father-in-law Wade (Presnell), whom he is sure will pay the ransom, that the kidnappers want $1 million.    He'll pay the ransom on his father-in-law's behalf, pay the thugs $80,000 and walk away with the rest.  He will even steal a car from the dealership lot for the kidnappers to use.   This goes nowhere nearly as planned.

The murders in Brainerd are just one example of how poorly everything goes with the plan.    With Jerry's wife in the trunk, the guys are pulled over for a routine late-night traffic stop.    Carl offers a bribe, which raises further suspicions with the trooper and forcing Gaer to shoot the cop in the head.    The other victim was a passerby in a vehicle whose vehicle veers off the road, flips over, and the driver and passenger are shot dead by a pursuing Gaer.    "Oh daddy," Carl says as he sees the carnage unfold.    He wasn't expecting this level of difficulty with what appeared to be a routine crime.

Things only get worse for Jerry, Carl, and Gaer.    The worst thing possible for them is having Marge on the case.    Because she is an intelligent, experienced, determined cop, she is able to find herself at Jerry's doorstep quickly.    The would-be criminals do not make it hard for her.    They leave clues everywhere, starting with the ticket book of the slain trooper, who began writing the plate number before he was shot.    Marge's deputy claims he could find no match to the plate which begins with "DLR".    Marge delicately replies, "I don't think I agree with you 100% on your police work there Lou."   Lou feels stupid, but Marge soon tells him a joke about a man who wanted personalized license plates and changed his name to numbers and letters.    This is a nice touch, establishing Marge as someone who wants to preserve Lou's dignity.    Yet, she is far from a softie, especially when dealing with suspects.    She assertively, but kindly interviews Jerry and others, maintaining her pluckiness and determination to solve the crime.

Fargo takes place in the dead of Minnesota winter circa 1987.    The landscape is whited out with snow that seems to be permanently affixed to the ground.    You wonder if it will ever get warm enough to thaw it all.    There are no sunny days, just clouds and gray, but the film is not depressing or bleak.   We remain hopeful that good will triumph over bad.     These are not the sort of criminals that could outsmart anyone, much less a professional like Marge.    Fargo mixes crime drama with dark humor successfully.    Jerry's attempts to hold it all together while his scheme crumbles is elevated to high comedy.     Macy is brilliant in this film.    He tries to maintain the façade of folksiness that comes naturally to someone like Marge, but he reeks of desperation from every pore.  

Fargo remains a unique movie experience.     Joel and Ethan Coen, who wrote and directed, draw these characters lovingly, with nice human touches.    Even the villains.    It is difficult not to love this world of desolate cold and snow as far as the eye can see.    It is remarkable how well the Coens can introduce this world, shake it up, and return it to normalcy.     It is even more remarkable to see Marge walk through this world of crap and come out clean on the other side.  

Loose Cannons (1990) *

Directed by:  Bob Clark

Starring:  Gene Hackman, Dan Aykroyd, Robert Prosky, Nancy Travis, Dom Deluise

How could Bob Clark have directed A Christmas Story and then churn out a mess like Loose Cannons?    More often than not, Clark made movies closer to Loose Cannons in terms of quality than A Christmas Story.   This is a woeful miscalculation.   I can't imagine how the premise even sounded promising on paper, yet it attracted super talents like Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd to star in it.    It is easy to say they should have known better, but only they know what compelled them to make this film.    Thankfully, both moved on to bigger and better things.    Hackman even won a second Oscar two years after this film's release.    Unfortunately, the movie was released during Aykroyd's campaign for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy.    Did voters take one look at this dud and hold it against Aykroyd?   I couldn't say for certain, but I would like to see where he placed in the runner-up voting.   (Denzel Washington won for Glory by the way).

Loose Cannons stars Hackman as Mac Stern, a Washington DC cop investigating a series of murders of German nationals.   He is paired with a schizophrenic forensics expert named Ellis Fielding (Aykroyd) who morphs into various personalities when confronted with trauma or violence.    Well, these are not really even personalities, but impressions of characters in better movies.    Not one moment of Ellis' psychotic breaks are even the tiniest bit funny.    Ellis' issues are really nothing more than an excuse for Aykroyd to break into different voices and act oddly, with Hackman and bystanders looking on in stunned silence.    These episodes were likely to make even Robin Williams cringe.   This is usually his territory.   Was he too busy to bother with this movie?   

Ellis is a quiet, mild-mannered guy who is the nephew of Hackman's captain.    There's nepotism and then there is putting your career at stake for someone who clearly needs continued professional care.   In Loose Cannons, Ellis is allowed to jeopardize himself and others while pretending to be James Cagney or The Three Stooges.    Would it be too much to ask for Ellis to at least turn into Don Corleone?    That idea is better than anything in the entire movie, and I say this as modestly as possible. 

The reason behind the murders is to attempt to stop the distribution of a film in which a man named Von Metz (Prosky), who is due to become the next Chancellor of Germany, gets to know Adolf Hitler in the biblical sense and puts to rest the theories that Hitler's death wasn't a suicide after all.   The buyer is a sleazy porn king (DeLuise), who becomes a target of hitmen and must be protected by Mac and Ellis.   The dynamic between these three resembles Joe Pesci, Mel Gibson, and Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapon series, but without the fun or good humor.  

There are endless car chases, fights, and shootouts, all of which do nothing to enhance our enjoyment while simply adding screen time to stretch the film to feature length.   Hackman must have said to himself, "The chase I did in The French Connection was way more awesome."    There is not a character or plot to care about.    Loose Cannons is a dead zone and a waste of the talent involved.  

Hal Roach, Sr, a legendary director in the infancy of motion pictures was credited with saying, "Cut to the chase".    This was his advice to screenwriters and filmmakers who filled their movies with unnecessary dialogue and plot developments on their way to the climactic chase scene.    Roach likely would have advised the makers of Loose Cannons to "cut past the chase, the outcome, and get to the closing credits so we all can leave."  I learned the film was shot in 1988 and sat on the shelf before its early 1990 release.  No wonder. 

Years later, some negatives of Loose Cannons were found buried in an Alberta, Canada landfill.   The employee who discovered the pieces of film thought it was footage of a real murder, but investigators were able to conclude that the footage was simply negatives of the movie.    Dan Aykroyd commented, "The movie should have been left in the landfill where it belongs."  His words, not mine. 

The Wedding Ringer (2015) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Jeremy Garelick

Starring:  Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, Ken Howard, Olivia Thirlby

I wish comedies these days would have enough confidence in themselves not to take the low road.    The Wedding Ringer is almost such a comedy.    It's a pity, because there are long stretches in which The Wedding Ringer threatens to surprise us and even work.    But then the slapstick and gross-out humor are thrown in, and we have an ungainly fit.     Nonetheless, this is the most likable Kevin Hart has been on screen yet and he and co-star Josh Gad make for a pretty good team. 

Gad plays Doug, an accountant with a good income who is engaged to Gretchen (Cuoco-Sweeting), who is a hottie with a bit of a bitchy streak.    He thinks she is way out of his league and still has to pinch himself to make sure he is not dreaming that she agreed to marry him.    Doug is a nice guy, but for some reason just doesn't have any male friends.    Gretchen has bridesmaids and a maiden-of-honor all lined up, while Doug does not even have a best man in his future.    Doug hears about a service run by Jimmy Callahan (Hart), in which Jimmy and some employees pose as Doug's best man and groomsmen for a price.     Jimmy arranges the bachelor party and keeps all of the guys' fictional stories of how they know Doug straight.     One caveat is that the relationship is strictly business.    Once the wedding is done, Jimmy and Doug will not be friends for real.    Naturally, we know this is one stipulation that won't be upheld.

Jimmy himself is a rather lonely guy too without any real friends.    His business prevents lasting bromances.    He has business ethics to uphold.   But soon enough, he and his employees have Gretchen and her family convinced that they've known Doug forever.    It does not always go that smoothly.   Gretchen's sister Alison (Thirlby) is a tad suspicious of Jimmy's whole story about being in the military.    And what a strange coincidence that the names of Doug's "friends" are Drysdale, Garvey, and Koufax, all of which the last names of LA Dodger greats.    Jimmy goes by the name "Bic", which sounds just like the disposable razor. 

The inherent likability of Hart and Gad allow them to mesh well.    They are nice, lonely guys who we know will become friends, because each desperately needs at least one.    Their budding friendship gives The Wedding Ringer more of a heart than one would expect.    But then, there are scenes in which a dog licks peanut butter off of a guy's testicles, a game of football between the guys and Gretchen's family that isn't funny, but violent, and other gross-out gags thrown in as a way for the filmmakers to hedge their bets.    They nearly derail the entire movie.   

Gross-out scenes like the ones I just detailed are beyond played out at this point.   There was a time in which the kid in American Pie accidentally drinking his own semen was at least new and fresh.   Now, I don't think there is a bodily fluid that hasn't seen the back of someone's throat.    Movies tend to up the ante until the point that such things are uninspired and reek of desperation.    What precisely is funny about a guy nearly coldcocked on a muddy football field by a bullying linebacker?   And why is it when we see and elderly woman in a comedy we correctly assume she will be foul-mouthed?  

But don't despair, there is enough good about The Wedding Ringer to make it a near-miss.    Kevin Hart is better when he is given a character to play and doesn't just motormouth his way through a movie.    Gad is a sympathetic schlub while Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting remains a sexy, alluring actress even when given a one-dimensional character.    Things go predictably in The Wedding Ringer, but it nearly becomes a satisfying comedy.    I have seen a whole lot worse in recent years.  

Chocolat (2000) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Lasse Hallstrom

Starring:  Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Alfred Molina, Carrie Anne Moss, Judi Dench, Peter Stormare, Hugh O' Conor, John Wood, Leslie Caron, Lena Olin

Lasse Hallstrom's Chocolat is a quiet, whimsical, predictable film that looks beautiful, sounds beautiful, but doesn't deliver a satisfactory payoff.    Things end happily for all involved, but are we moved?    Not really.   

Chocolat takes place in the late 1950's in a small French village which looks probably as it did three hundred years ago.    It is a deeply religious town that adheres to tradition.     The week centers around Sunday mass, where it seems every citizen of the town attends.    One who does not is Vianne (Binoche), a newcomer who opens up a chocolate shop during Lent which provides various temptations for the townsfolk.     Per the film's narrator, she came in like the North wind.   The mayor Comte de Reynaud (Molina) rules the town and even writes the weekly sermons for the parish priest (O'Conor).    He visits Vianne and questions her wisdom in opening a chocolate shop during Lent, which is one of many subtle ways he displays his disapproval of her and the shop.    We sense there may be otherworldly things afoot with Vianne and her chocolates.   

The stage is set for a showdown between Vianne, whose chocolates represent change and perhaps even paganism, and the mayor, who prefers people like Vianne and Roux (Depp), a bohemian musician who lives by the river, pack up and take their alternative to religion elsewhere.    Since Roux and Vianne are vaguely in the same age range, we know they will hook up.    Both Binoche (Oscar-nominated for her role here) and Depp provide Vianne and Roux with tenderness and sweetness in the face of intolerance.    Vianne wins over some locals with her superior chocolates and pleasant manner.    The shop represents a respite from the strict adherence to religious doctrine which basically takes all the fun out of life for these poor residents.

Some of those who refuse to be converted to the church of Vianne include the mayor, Caroline (Moss), whose mother is Vianne's defiant, stubborn landlord (Dench) and with whom she maintains a distant relationship, and Serge (Stormare), and abusive husband whose wife Josephine takes shelter at the shop.    Except for Serge, who is incorrigible, the others will soon see the light.    de Reynaud's wife is "away in Italy", but is most likely gone for good.    He wields his power as a mask for his pain and his disappointment that God hasn't made his wife return to him.

I wonder why in movies religious people are seen as hateful, intolerant jerks who get their kicks out of denying themselves and everyone even a hint of pleasure.    While I'm not a religious person, I know the fanatical zealots are a minority.    Yet, in films like Chocolat, Footloose, and in a secular way Pleasantville, those moralists behave so irrationally it is a wonder why they have any followers at all.    What is more fun?   Hanging around a churl like de Reynaud or the sweet hottie Vianne?  
It is no contest.    However, history has shown that these religious minorities hold a lot of sway with those who cower at their every word.    Perhaps my view is a bit too utopian.

The scenes in which the scales fall from the eyes of the locals do not hold much impact.   I'm happy for them, but not much moved.    Roux and Vianne make a good-looking couple, but their romance is by rote.    Molina is a master at subtle villainy disguised as pleasantry, but his fate is inevitable.    So we wait for him to change, but when it does it does not reward us for our patience.   

Chocolat is a nice film; breezy, light, and luxuriously photographed, but not compelling enough when all is said and done.    I admire the performances all the more for a story that we've seen done many times before and better. 

The Fan (1996) * *

Directed by:  Tony Scott

Starring:  Robert DeNiro, Wesley Snipes, John Leguizamo, Benicio Del Toro, Ellen Barkin

I don't know if there are sports fans out there willing to go to the lengths Gil Renard (DeNiro) does to ensure his favorite player breaks out of his slump, but I can not say it would surprise me if there were.   The Fan would have been wise to focus unmercifully on Renard instead of transforming into a run-of-the-mill thriller in which the crazy baddie terrorizes his favorite player only to get his in the end.    The Fan is all too happy to head in the latter direction and it is a shame.    A later movie named Big Fan (2009), which starred Patton Oswalt as a diehard New York Giants fan, had more insight into the special type of fan who calls sports radio talk shows and is willing to protect a player who beat him up just to ensure the Giants win on Sunday.   

I would like to think the average sports fan handles his or her team's performance in an even-keeled manner.    The good feelings following a win or bad feelings following a loss do not usually last longer than an hour or two and then it's on with life.    However, based on regular listening to sports talk radio, reading stories of Little League dads who attack umpires, and soccer fans who kill referees and threaten the life of a player who screwed up on the field, I am beginning to wonder if these are the average sports fans anymore.     Rude, obnoxious, or belligerent fan behavior is described as "passion".     Players have objects thrown at them in the name of such passion.    There may have been a time in which fans like Gil Renard would be considered extreme, but these days he is scarcely ahead of the curve.    The Fan was made during such a time where such behavior was unthinkable.   

The Fan, which starts out as a movie about an unhinged fan, soon becomes laughable.    It seems to know about attitudes of pro players towards fans, but not as much about baseball itself.    An examination of a fan who bleeds his team's colors and a player on that team who could not care less about fan opinion would be an interesting movie.    The Fan is not that movie.    As The Fan opens, it is the dawn of a new San Francisco Giants baseball season.     Gil is thrilled at the offseason signing of the reigning league MVP Bobby Rayburn (Snipes) and calls into the local sports talk radio show predicting a World Series title.    Gil is a hunting knife salesman whose job is in jeopardy because he scares clients with his bizarre manner.    He is the type of guy who takes his son to the opening day game and leaves him there alone for hours while visiting a make-or-break client.   

The arrogant Rayburn soon is mired in an endless slump.    He is involved in a feud with a teammate (Del Toro) who wears the number 11 Rayburn wore on his former team and refuses to give it up.    Gil believes Rayburn not being allowed to wear his usual number is causing the slump and soon takes care of Del Toro by making him an offer he won't be able to refuse.    Gil's scary behavior causes his ex-wife to withhold visitation and he is soon fired from his job.    Looking for an ounce of self-respect and recognition, he turns his attentions to Rayburn, who suddenly can hit a baseball again.

Because DeNiro is DeNiro, he is able to handle himself despite having nearly no character to play by the final 30 minutes.    He becomes a movie psychopath with a deranged smile and an ability to slip in and out of anywhere undetected even though every cop in San Francisco is looking for him.    He is no longer a person with motives or feelings.    He is just a killer who needs to be disposed of in a sensational way.    There is no insight into him or his resentment of Rayburn.    He hints at looking for recognition and resentment of Rayburn's attitudes toward money, fame, and fans, but these are mentioned but not explained.   

Snipes plays the entitled Rayburn as someone we sympathize with when Gil begins terrorizing him.   He soon finds himself under pressure to hit a home run or else his kidnapped son dies.    The game itself in which Rayburn has to do this is handled so poorly and unrealistically that it derails any suspense.    How poorly?   And how unrealistically?  

*  The rain comes in the 8th inning with Rayburn flustered as the pitcher begins intentionally walking him.     He shouts in protest at the pitcher.    I'm not sure of the opposing team's strategy since there is no one on base and Rayburn represents the tying run.  

*  The rain itself comes down so heavy it looks like the actors are standing under shower heads.   It is definitely movie rain. 

*  When play resumes, Rayburn approaches the opposing pitcher on the mound with a bat in hand and threatens to use the bat on the pitcher's head if he is not pitched to.    And the umpires do not eject Rayburn immediately.   Uh huh.

*  The pitcher relents to Rayburn against his manager's orders and pitches to him.   And the manager does nothing, not even a visit to the mound.   Uh huh. 

*   The rain comes again in a deluge and the game is not called despite hurricane-like winds and precipitation.    Rayburn takes his time thinking outside the batter's box as the water pours down on everyone.    Uh huh.

*   I think at one point during another game, Rayburn is the next batter and emerges from the dugout to bat instead of taking his place in the on-deck circle.    This is cause for ejection if I'm up to snuff on my baseball rules.  

Why does it even have to rain anyway?    To disguise a plot twist that everyone saw coming?   Or just for atmosphere?   By then, The Fan has abandoned all logic and sense en route to its inevitable conclusion.    We hear Rayburn explain why he doesn't play for the fans but for himself.    After his run-in with Gil, can anyone blame him?  

McFarland USA (2015) * * *

Directed by:  Niki Caro

Starring:  Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Carlos Pratts, Johnny Ortiz, Morgan Saylor, Ramiro Rodriguez

McFarland USA blindsided me with its intricate insight.    It is about a newly formed high school cross country team circa 1987 that breathes life and pride into McFarland, CA, a downtrodden small town of mostly Latino population.    The students are not given much to look forward to after high school.    They will likely return to the fields as "pickers", only they will do so full-time instead of just the morning hours prior to school and then the remaining daylight hours afterward.    There is little hope for a future that does not contain backbreaking 14-hour workdays for minimal pay.  

The film opens with hotheaded football coach Jim White (Costner) throwing a cleat at a smart aleck player during halftime.    In the next scene, we see he and his family packing up the car and heading to McFarland, home of the only high school that would give him a job.   Jim has a history of  His weary wife Cheryl (Bello) and two daughters have seemingly made this trip many times before.    They are appalled at the house they live in, which is tiny and does not have a garden, and are even more alarmed at the neighborhood.    Jim does not envision his family having to live there for long.

Jim is hired by a desperate principal who needs a gym teacher and an assistant football coach.    Jim does not last long as the assistant to an undersized football squad, but he recognizes some players and students who can run very fast with amazing stamina.    He pitches the idea of forming a cross-country team and is able to recruit seven students who wake at the crack of dawn to work the fields, go to school, and then go back to working the fields after school.     They somehow fit in team practice which requires miles of running.    Their endurance and strength are extraordinary.

Based on this information, you can predict the obligatory scenes:   Jim will at first alienate his team with his harsh coaching style, only to form a guarded truce and then bring the team together.    The team will be blown out in its first meet against superior competition, then hit their stride, and qualify for the state championship.    Do they win?    I won't say, but you know the odds are 50-50.    You check off these scenes as they happen, but what you do not expect are the warm and gentle scenes in which Jim and his family become part of the community.    They embrace the "blancos" as one of their own.    Oh and naturally Jim catches the eye of a rival school that wants him to become their new cross country coach.    Will he accept it?

McFarland USA takes great care to show how Jim becomes one with these hard-working people and helps instill hope that there is life beyond working the fields.    The students have a chance to actually go to college, while none of the previous members of their families attended school past 9th grade.    For the first time in forever, the families of the runners have something to be proud of.    McFarland USA succeeds because while it covers the clichés we have seen in such previous movies, it also takes a moment to let us see inside.    The big race is just a small portion of these people's lives.    Life goes on before and after.  

Kevin Costner relies on his ability to be the everyman which was the cornerstone of some of his best performances.     He is a bit more world-weary in McFarland than in other sports-related films like Bull Durham, Tin Cup, and Field of Dreams, but he projects determination and caring.    He is willing to learn from his previous mistakes as a coach, parent, and husband.    The runners themselves make us care by having distinctive stories and personalities.    They are not just a faceless group.    Because of this, when the entire town of McFarland shuts down to witness the big race, we know the human stakes are high.    I didn't care who won as much as I cared about how the race positively affected the town.    The sports movie clichés are all there, but it doesn't matter.    McFarland USA creates genuine warmth.