Wonderful movie that should have been a huge comeback for Costner as a leading man

Rating: 9/10 (8 April 2020)

I absolutely love this movie. Maybe I am a tad biased because I actually only live about 50 minutes away from the McFarland of the title, so the culture of the San Joaquin Valley where the movie takes place as well as some of the details of Hispanic culture were very familiar to me. Sure it's a predictable and formulaic story, but even so I have rarely felt a deep connection to a movie of this formula as I have to this one. I thought this movie would be a huge smash when it was released and would revive Kevin Costner as a leading man. Keeping in mind of course his career tanked badly after 1995's Waterworld and although he has had hits in supporting roles like Man of Steel and Hidden Figures both of which were huge hits, he has never found a huge hit sadly in the last two decades as a leading actor. I thought this would have been that huge hit that would have revitalized him as a leading man, but it was only a modest box office success sadly, and Costner's career remains exactly where it was before the release of this movie. He has made some poor career choices since the mid-90's but this film was not one of them, and this should have been a much bigger hit. I think a lot of the reason why this film didnt do as well as I anticipated was because audiences were tired of the same old Disney sports movie formula. Well this movie has more depth than would be expected. This has insight into every one of its characters and breaks away from the traditional sports movie formula. Perhaps if you are not familiar with Central California culture that could have been another reason why it didnt catch on with audiences. This movie was huge in the area I live and played in theaters for over three months, but it was nowhere as big elsewhere. Still this is an absolute treasure, with Costner at his absolute best. I hope he can make a comeback eventually as a leading man. But most importantly this is a magnificent film in every way that should have made him the big star he was decades ago. If you haven't seen it and think it will be another Costner stinker watch it and be proven wrong. If you think the story will be predictable from beginning to end you will be pleasantly surprised.