A Great Family Film; Best Football Flick Ever

Rating: 10/10 (28 February 2004)

Cynics HATE this film. It has nothing smug, hip or destructive to say about the human condition. Instead, it is an awe-inspiring, life-affirming treatise on the redemptive power of love, and of the vital importance of the commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself.
It is also the finest football film ever made, and I have seen them all. I have been coaching football since 1974, and have suffered as a film buff through some truly awful football "action" sequences along the way. There is not one false note in any of the references to football -- games, practices, pre-game pep talks -- the director, writer and cast get it all just right.
Cuba Gooding, Jr. delivers an amazing performance as a severely retarded black man in South Carolina who is befriended by a white high school football coach who worships at the altar of Bear Bryant. Along the way, an entire town learns to open up to this strange, frightening creature and to respond to his gift of unconditional love.
I own the film on DVD, and give it my highest recommendation without reservation. The special features are excellent, dwelling not only on the writing and making of the film, but on the real "Radio" and his ongoing relationship with a coach, a school, and a town.