2019 – Gavin O’Connor
Viewed March 9, 2020
Tough addiction flick marketed poorly as inspirational basketball film
I went to see this with my friend, Megan, whose review I will chronicle below:
WORST SPORTS MOVIE EVER – IT’S TRYING TO BE LIKE FOUR THINGS IN ONE! HOW COULD THEY END IT LIKE THAT? I WANT TO KNOW THE EXACT SCORE OF THE LAST GAME!
I think that Megan has excellent points – The Way Back is unfocused. The film doesn’t spend enough time with the student athletes to make their goal of reaching the playoffs mean anything, while the main character’s journey to sobriety spends nearly all its time at rock bottom, with his redemption barely lasting long enough to register; hence, Megan exhortation that the end couldn’t be the end (and yet it was).
The adverts for this film made The Way Back seem like another verse in the long and storied tradition of uplifting sports films, and yet there isn’t much basketball to be had. Really what this film made me feel is that I needed to go take another look at Hoosiers.
Megan gave it a 2.3 and I a 3, so we’ll split it not so evenly down the middle and give it a 2.5.