FilmCreature Reviews 'Seabiscuit'

Rating: 5/10 (7 July 2007)

I am surprised that Seabiscuit received such praising reviews. One critic called it the best film of the year. It clearly is not. I did not like this movie. It has quality it how the sets and costumes were designed, but I simply did not like the movie. I finished it feeling gloomy and unsatisfied.
I will say that Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper are stellar in this movie. Tobey Maguire plays a crabby teenager who befriends an equally crabby horse. We do not much like either of them; I personally could have cared less what happened to them (like I gave a damn about the big final race). Now Bridges' character, I cared about, I didn't want anything bad to happen to him. Chris Cooper plays a horse-wranglin' cowboy who basically becomes Bridges' little horse assistant.
There is excellent acting here by Cooper and Bridges, but this movie seems to have been made by crusty old men. I know quality when I see it, and it is here, but I simply cannot praise a movie that is so...unlikable.
2/4