Checked out (blindly) the new sports film (produced by Tim Tebow, apparently) Run the Race. Sports – and christian – film as it turns out.
Run the Race is about a poor family in Florida where the eldest son is a champion highschool quarterback and the slightly younger brother also played but took a hit to the head and is sidelined. Their dad is a drunk who moved out after their mother died so the elder brother isn’t so sure about this whole “God” thing. Then the elder brother takes a hit himself and tears his ACL just when scouts that could get him a scholarship start to show up at games.
This film is well shot and well acted but exceedingly dull, slow-paced, and unfocused. I kept waiting for something – anything – to happen for far too long. It lacks a lot of drive and drama to make it interesting. Things DO happen but they happen at a crawl and, admittedly, with a somewhat welcome lack of melodrama. But too little drama means a long slog of a film.
The religious angle is mostly an aside for the first hour and then it knocks you upside the head suddenly. I’m sorry to say that its approach is pretty typical of the genre and lacks real drama. Because, well, it turns out you just have to Believe and pray and everything will just get better. Or maybe not… because the flick pulls a bullshit move at the very end that made me want to throw my soda at the screen. It was frustrating and mean-spirited in a way that faith-based movies can sometimes be without realizing it.
So, yeah, I imagine most people haven’t heard of this flick and I hadn’t even seen a single trailer for it. I went in blind and was largely bored (and this has nothing to do with the religious angle… if anything that added some life to the flick). I guess if you like high school football movies – and faith-based films – you might get more out of it. I think its low-energy presentation will bore most people, regardless of what the flick is about.
Score: 64