Gooding proves he's no fluke

Rating: Null/10 (3 November 2003)

RADIO (2003) **1/2 Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ed Harris, Debra Winger, S. Epatha Merkerson, Chris Mulkey, Alfre Woodard, Sarah Drew, Riley Smith. Gooding Jr. FINALLY show his Oscar win wasn't a fluke after appearing in a string of under whelming films he acquits himself nicely in his true-life portrait of a mentally challenged young man circa 1976 South Carolina with the titular nickname, James Robert Kennedy, who is befriended and mentored by the local high school athletic coach Harold Jones (Harris in a wonderful performance) that more or less adopts him as the son he never had, and ingratiating him to a largely neglectful community that win themselves over by his loving personality. Based on Gary Smith's 'Sports Illustrated', Mike Rich's adaptation smartly focuses on the friendship between these two radically different yet similar men who forged a lifelong relationship that continues to this day. The only hampering is the at-times predictable occurrences (bullying and underpinnings of racism) and the thin-line of the noble handicapped black man as a token savant/mascot. (Dir: Michael Tollin)