Maybe TOO much heart

Rating: 7/10 (16 March 2006)

The real life story of the relationship between South Carolina football coach Harold Jones(Ed Harris) and James Robert "Radio"Kennedy(Cuba Gooding Jr.)is explored here over the course of the 1976-77 school year. Initially a mute,eccentric stranger who would roam the outskirts of town,listening to this broken down radio(hence his nickname),he is brought into the team and the school(After initially being mercilessly harassed and teased by some of his players)by Coach Jones,who has his own reasons for taking an interest in a person he quickly learns is disabled. As "Radio" insinuates his way into the lives of the students,coaches and even Coach Jones' family(Debra Winger and Sarah Drew),he becomes an almost invaluable fixture around the small southern town as well as the school.
There would be,actually,so many reasons to dislike this show:the story is painfully predictable,the writing starts to creak and crack when it tries too hard to push buttons(one example:when someone mentions how well Radio has learned since coming to the school,HAnna High,the response is "No,we haven't been teaching him,he's been teaching us!") and it is fairly vague as to much of Radio's actual life or personality,with the exception of his hard-working and skeptical mother(S.Epatha Markerson). But to do so would make me feel like a complete and total cad. The acting here,particularly between HArris and Gooding,is warm and endearing,and the show does good as long as it stays on a straight path of simple narrative. I would say,in the end this movie might suffer from a little too much of visceral sentiment here,choosing to wring sympathy from the audience like one wrings out a wash cloth. Certainly,people who are not a fan of warm,endearing heart-tuggers are probably going to reject this film on first glance. But it's a nice story,and being someone who's had more than his share of contact with "special needs" people,I can't dump on this movie too much. A very good cheap rent.