I hate this film

Rating: 3/10 (27 October 2003)

Okay, this review is for everyone who complained that I only wrote 10/10 reviews. First off, the background. I like to give people the background of what I thought of the film before I saw it, so they know where I'm coming from. So...I've not EVER been a fan of this film. I saw the trailer, and said to myself, 'Wow, another 'inspired by a true story, Remember the Titans-esque, 'uplifting' film, only now we've got Cuba 'I'm an Academy Award winnner, yet I did 'Snow Dogs' Gooding Jr. as a retarded kid. Whoopdifriggingdo.' My fears stayed unabated, especially when reviews popped up on AICN, such as one proclaiming that the reviewer would rather razor blade his gums than see the film again. So, I had decided to skip 'Radio,' and just not ever bother with it. I saw RtT, as well as 'The Rookie,' (which, by the way, was written by the same guy who wrote this) and found them not too bad, and I actually LIKED 'Rookie,' but the concept to this one just seemed TOO dumb to bother with.
However, turns out that this story happened in Anderson, South Carolina, which happens to be my Dad's home town. In fact, if you watch the film, they talk about 'West Side,' and there's even a game against this 'West Side,' and that school turns out to be the one my father went to. He was even attending West Side in 1976, which is the time that the story took place (not the actual event, mind you, that happened in the early 60s). My Dad even worked at the only Burger King in town, so when the assistant goes out for burgers from said chain, he very well may have gotten they served to him by my Dad. So a lot of connections. My interest was piqued a TEENY bit, but definatly not enough to spend seven dollars on.
Which brings us to Saturday. 'Oh, we're going to a movie this afternoon,' my mom says. 'Which one?' I ask, begging that they want to take me to 'Lost in Translation,' or, even better, 'Thirteen.' 'We're gonna see 'Radio.'' I inwardly and outwardly groaned. 'Isn't there anything better out?' Yes, there is. 'No, and plus, it takes place in Anderson.' 'You're paying for it?' 'Yes.' 'Alright, then.' So once I get off work, I trundle down to the local multiplex, not excited at ALL about seeing the film, but actually excited about reviewing the film later.
So...to what you've all been waiting for, the actual review.
THE ACTING:
I'm going to put off talking about Cuba for a moment to talk about everyone else. AHH!!! Gah! Dangnabit, people! Alright, Ed Harris (whom I LOVED in 'The Truman Show') did an OKAY job in his part as the coach, but EVERYONE ELSE WAS TERRIBLE. Part of it was the lines given to them, i.e. 'All along we thought we were teaching Radio, but it turns out Radio was teaching us,' but the other part is that the people were just NOT good actors. From the WB wannabes playing the football players, to even the (so I hear) living legend Debra Winger was terrible. Off, off, OFF line readings. I've seen better line reading by ME, for crying out loud. (Note to actors: if I can act better than you, then you don't deserve to be on the big screen.)
Now on to good old Cuba Gooding Junior. Now, I like this guy, I really do. He was great in 'Jerry Maguire,' 'Pearl Harbor,' and even 'Men of Honor.' Then he decided to go do 'Snow Dogs,' 'Boat Trip,' and 'The Fighting Temptations.' UGH. I guess he decided he needed to do and *acting* film to make up for his tresspasses against the silver screen. But lemme tell you something, Cuba, this is NOT the role for you. First off, you are TOO DAMN OLD! The guy is going on 36, and he's playing a role where he's supposed to be in his twenties! The age is showing, man. I had no idea how old the guy was supposed to be until they finally told us, because he looks like an old guy already, and I knew the character wasn't supposed to be that old. Okay, he did an okay job of doing the mentally retarded thing. Not Oscar worthy, no where NEAR what Tom Hanks in 'Forrest Gump,' or even Sean Penn in 'i am sam' were able to pull off. He's just a comical 'retarded kid.' I couldn't feel sorry for him, because I kept being told I shouldn't, and I couldn't feel happy for him, because he's MENTALLY RETARDED! The movie didn't try to show HOW being mentally retarded is a good thing...but I'm getting off topic.
Just know that everyone sucked except for Cuba who was good but not great.
ACTING SCORE: 4/10

THE WRITING:
'Radio's got a good heart.' 'All along, Radio's been the one teaching us.' GIVE ME A FRIGGING BREAK! The key to a good movie is that you don't tell us everything! And this film TOLD US EVERYTHING! And on top of it, it didn't let us SEE everything!
The whole premise (I think, it was very unclear) was that through something, Radio was able to inspire a football team, or a town, or something. He did not do this. The things we see him do are, in no particular order:
1. Go in a girl's locker room and then be sad about it 2. Get a penatly called on the team for shouting 'chickingshitchickingshitchickenshit!' at the coach (which was not as funny as you might think it would be 3. Cause a whole bunch of ruckas at the school with the school board investigating 4. Listen to a radio 5. Tear up his room 6. Talk funny 7. Give out presents for no particular reason
The things this resulted in:
1. The coach left the team, and they didn't win a championship 2. We find out that the coach is going to start paying closer attention to his family
Yes, that's it. No OVERCOMING RASCISM, no INSPIRING THE TEAM TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP, no REALISING THAT IT WOULD BE BETTER IF WE WERE RETARDED, none of that stuff we've come to expect from this type of film. NOTHING HAPPENED! NOTHING! I left the theatre not sure why I bothered in the first place. All we did was watch some semi-interesting events that happened, and see a coach get reunited to his family (which wasn't even shown well).
Overall, it felt like they wanted to make a movie about Radio, but didn't have a real point to it all, so just gave us some things to look at, and a couple of events to make the woman cry. Pathetic.
WRITING SCORE: 1/10 (with extreme prejudice)

THE DIRECTING:
Michael Tollin shows us that he did, in fact, pass 'How to direct a movie TYPICALLY 101' with flying colours. HE does nothing new, he does nothing bold. He directs the film like any other director would have done it, only he's latched on to the recent 'zoom at random moments in sports events' trend, and figured out (like everyone else) that sports are more exciting when the camera in on the field instead of on the sidelines. Wooo.
I guess I shouldn't have expected anything astounding, but I sure didn't get it anyway. The film felt like it was shot by a group of ADs.
DIRECTING SCORE: 3/10

OVERALL:
I hated this film. I'll just go out and say it, the only redeeming factor in this film was Sarah Drew, who was the voice of 'Sarah Rowe' in the CLASSIC Mtv animated series 'Daria,' which I'm afraid far too many people have forgotten. She was hot. The rest of the film...was not.
However: If you are:
A. An adult
and
B. You have no taste in film
Then you will LOVE this film. I know this because I heard everyone raving about how good it was, and how sad it was, and how uplifting it was, and how good Cuba Gooding Jr. was...everything the studio execs wanted them to think. They obviously were not paying any attention to what the film actually WAS, they made up their minds the second they saw Cuba going down that hill in the shopping cart. (Which, once again, was nowhere near as touching as they meant it to be.)
But, if you are in those categories, then you will love the film. (Chris' Mom and Dad, and speaking to you ) The rest of you: aviod this film like the Plague.
OVERALL SCORE: 3/10