McFarland USA

Set in 1987 (and based on a true story), Kevin Costner stars as Jim White - a high school football coach with a temper. He has been fired from a few jobs due to his behavior and outspoken nature, which has led to his last chance.

Desperation has brought him to this town, McFarland, in the middle of nowhere California. While he has been hired to be the Physical Education teacher and Assistant Football Coach, Jim and his family don’t quite fit in among the population of migrant farm workers who barely make a living tending the fields surrounding McFarland.

After a confrontation with the head coach, Jim finds himself kicked off the coaching staff, but he starts to realize the kids at this school have a lifestyle and conditioning that perfectly lend themselves to being cross country runners.

Since the school doesn't have a cross country team, and White needs to do something to ingratiate himself with the principal, he steps up and recruits a ragtag motley crew that seems destined for greatness (you don’t think they would make a movie about a team that finishes dead last, do you?)

Are you ready to cheer?

McFarland USA is the quintessential Disney feel good formula picture, so just let your heart take you away, even if your mind knows exactly where we are going.

Yes, you can completely predict each twist and turn.

Yes, White and his family are fish out of water who don’t fit in, but some cute moments will occur along the way to show them they are welcome into the community if they just give it a chance.

Yes, they will learn all about a new culture and have their eyes opened to what the people of McFarland do to survive.

Yes, they will face big challenges that will make you cheer as they succeed.

McFarland USA works because everyone wants to root for an underdog, especially a group of characters who deserve better and seem to have the spirit and will to overcome obstacles put in their way by circumstance and the general unfairness of life.

Director Niki Caro and the screenwriting team know this, and do a wonderful job staying out of the way. Caro shows a remarkable restraint and embraces the simplicity of the story, which allows natural emotion to take over. She doesn’t need to cloud the film with all sorts of overly active visuals, and shows you can do more with less if you have the talent to do so. Even the light comic moments perfectly emerge at all of the right times.

McFarland USA also shines because Costner and the rest of the cast are awesome. Anyone who follows my reviews on a regular basis knows my admiration for Costner as the ultimate, consummate steadying force in a movie, and it is on full display here. Nothing about his performance is overly demonstrative as he brings just enough energy and emotion to each scene, helping McFarland USA to avoid the melodramatic.

The young guys are darn good, too. Carlos Pratts bounces back from the horrendous Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones to create an intense, likable, troubled character with some charisma in the face of bleakness, while the other young men have a natural air about them that makes the comical moments a delight, and the dramatic moments poignant.

McFarland USA is a wonderful movie, even though you know exactly what you are getting before you walk in the door.

McFarland USA is rated PG for thematic material, some violence and language.