Billed as a "wrestling movie with a message" I was pretty excited to see this film. It had been getting good reviews from all the right places. And it was a good film. Just not enough wrestling. The story is a classic set up to allow adults and kids to both grow up. Paul Giamatti is a struggling small town lawyer who doubles as the high school wrestling coach for a pretty miserable team. A kid who can actually wrestle drops in his lap (a la Michael Oher in The Blind Side) and two both learn about each other and life and what they need to do to make adult decisions. So a bit contrived and a bit too obvious with the message. I do like Paul Giammati and he does a pretty good job here along side the kid wrestler, cast as a typical teenager who only speaks in one word sentences. Perhaps the target audience won't notice this, but much of the overarching tension here comes from the fact that Giamatti is expected to support the family, while to all appearances, the wife contributes nothing financially. It is perhaps more commentary on my life and relationships that it seems weird to not even see a discussion on this point as a plot device. No consideration of a part time job, or Giamatti playing Mr. Mom for awhile. There are lots of assumptions running around this film family that are a very deep part of the ethos of the film, but are not explicit.
3 stars (out of 5)
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