McFARLAND  USA  3.2 ****

            It should surprise no one that as a Walt Disney film, McFarland USA is intended to be a heartwarming and inspirational drama. The movie is based upon a true story where underprivileged kids facing overwhelming odds and a down-on-his-luck coach form an unlikely friendship and surprise themselves and the small  Mexican immigrant town of McFarland with their efforts.  Largely thanks to talented cast and keen direction,  McFarland  avoids over- sentimentality, never forcing you into feeling something unearned, nor relying upon  feel good themes  to do the work. Instead what follows is an authentic, true-to-life telling of otherwise unremarkable and overlooked high school boys transformed into athletes and then into true contenders.

 

Kevin Coaster, plays Jim White, a washed up high school football coach, who begins the film at a career low point. After losing his job following a hot tempered outburst, White moves his family to a cracker-box house, in a dicey, poor neighborhood in California's San Joaquin Valley, where he get a last-chance teaching/coaching position at McFarland High School. After a bad start, White soon takes notice of a group of Latino teenagers with a talent for running and stamina developed after years of grueling work picking crops both before and after school to help support their families. With the principal’s support, he decides to start a cross country team, knowing nothing about long distance running or even track, but willing to put in the effort, believing that his team has the potential to be a contender.

 

McFarland USA also offers a powerful immersion into the culture of these Mexican immigrants and their grueling work as pickers that is so much a part of their lifestyle.  For a film that could have easily turned into another clinched sports movie, Director Caro was careful to choose  examples of daily life that  depict the difficult and harsh reality of living in  a migrant community   

 

McFarland owes much of its commercial appeal and likability to Costner's convincing portrayal of a flawed and arguably difficult guy with fundamentally moral instincts. Like few other actors, he is capable of embodying an ethical ideal through his forceful, yet understated performance, and infuses the picture with an  all-American quality and believability.

 

For the sports enthusiast and those in search of an uplifting, feel-good  story, McFarland USA is a worthy film to see. Don't expect overwhelming cinematic brilliance, but expect to be inspired and leave feeling good.

 

Both my wife Sara and I liked it and appreciate the fact that it is a great family film that has no cursing, no sex and no violence… a PG rated film.

 

Clark