First Posted: 2/25/2015
By David Adams
The Story
“My father’s a picker, not a foreman. My sister’s pregnant. He was hitting his fist against the wall. He hurts his hands, he can’t work,” says Thomas Valles (Carlos Pratts), best runner on the newly-formed McFarland cross-country team. He’s thinking of quitting. “Running is the only thing you’ve got going for you,” says Coach Jim White (Kevin Costner). “Do you want to keep going?” It’s a critical moment in this motivational sports film.
Does Thomas quit? Does White take the better coaching job at Palo Alto? Does the McFarland team go to state? For answers, see feel-good “McFarland, U.S.A.”
The Actors
As Coach Jim White, Kevin Costner gives a nuanced and heartfelt performance, better than this predictable, old-fashioned movie probably needs. He’s especially good in scenes with the struggling seven-runner McFarland team. “What’s hard,” he says, after a disappointing race, “is losing when you know you haven’t done enough.” He’s talking as much about himself as the team. Carlos Pratts, as best runner Thomas Valles, looks too old to be in high school, but plays his smart and angry character convincingly. “I’m a picker,” he says — he works three hours before and after school every day. “I’ll always be a picker. We come out of the field; we go back to the field.”
Others in the mostly Latino cast include Maria Bello, Morgan Saylor and Elsie Fisher as Jim’s ever-practical wife Cheryl and two daughters, teen Julie and younger sister Jamie. Ramiro Rodriguez is Danny Diaz, the team’s anchor. Diana Maria Riva and Omar Leyva are Danny’s parents. Valente Rodriguez is perceptive and long-suffering principal Camillo.
Other Comments
“McFarland, U.S.A.” is predictable, manipulative, feel-good and, as they say, based on a true story — the 1987 McFarland (California) High School cross-country team. Niki Caro directed, from Christopher Cleveland’s script, an “inspirational Disney sports film,” as critic Marc Savlov calls it. Still, it has heart, thanks to touching underplayed scenes in which Costner reveals a developing father-son connection with runner Valles, and wife Mario Bello bonds with the women of McFarland. “Nowhere has ever felt this much like home,” she says. “Eating together makes us family,” says an Hispanic neighbor.
Rated PG for thematic material (prejudice and discrimination), some violence and language, “McFarland” runs 128 minutes. Despite clichés and (some) hokum, the film makes us feel good afterwards. Then again, maybe it’s because of clichés and hokum that we feel good afterwards.
Final Words
A lefty feel-good flick,
“McFarland, U.S.A.”
Coach Kevin Costner —
Will the team go all the way?
