It's 1990 Iowa. There are two months left in the year and girls volleyball coach Kent Stock (Sean Astin) joins legendary Norway High baseball team as an assistant under coach Jim Van Scoyoc (Powers Boothe). They win the 19th state championships in a row. The state is closing small town schools and Norway is next. Polly Hudson (Rachael Leigh Cook) is the state bureaucrat. Mitch Akers is the new kid. With overwhelming forces against the town, the principal hires Kent as the new coach to drag down the championship team as the final nail in the school's coffin.
They've jammed a lot of stuff into this movie. It's a functional sports movie up to a point. Sammy's journey becomes the most compelling and emblematic to the theme of the movie. It's surprising because he's minor character and this movie has crammed a bunch of stories plucked from generic sports movies. It's not that I approve of his climax. It should concentrate more on his fears. That would be a fitting overall theme. The movie is trying too much and trying the traditional path. It needs a better visionary take to make this special or figure out how to better implement the traditional sports movie.
They've jammed a lot of stuff into this movie. It's a functional sports movie up to a point. Sammy's journey becomes the most compelling and emblematic to the theme of the movie. It's surprising because he's minor character and this movie has crammed a bunch of stories plucked from generic sports movies. It's not that I approve of his climax. It should concentrate more on his fears. That would be a fitting overall theme. The movie is trying too much and trying the traditional path. It needs a better visionary take to make this special or figure out how to better implement the traditional sports movie.