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Friday, November 1, 2013

MOVIE REVIEW Underdogs
The Davids Of Fourth Down Ohio, On And Off The Field
 

D.B. Sweeney as Coach Vince DeAntonio rallying his Aquinas Knights players in Doug Darth's drama "Underdogs". Freestyle Releasing

       

by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW                                           
Friday, November 1, 2013

Doug Darth's likable but formulaic drama "Underdogs" never pretends to be anything other than it is: an adequate, tidy chronicle of Davids and a Goliath in an Ohio town.  Based on a true events, the Canton, Ohio high school football rivalry between the Herbert Hoover Vikings, a division I school, and the St. Thomas Aquinas Knights, a division IV that hasn't been to the playoffs since forever.

Woven into this mild and lighthearted story written by Dave Latham are a "forbidden" romance between Aquinas's hot-shot quarterback Bobby Burkett (Logan Huffman) and a Hoover cheerleader (Maddie Hasson), and a plodding sub-plot about Bobby's dad Bill (William Mapother) whose machine invention endangers his standing at his job.  "Underdogs" puts on its football pads as its central component, including a cameo by Broadway Joe Namath, fresh off his drunken exploits years ago on the Monday Night Football sidelines with reporter Suzy Kolber, to rally and inspire the Aquinas players as they aim to win a title.  It would be easy to say "Underdogs" isn't "Friday Night Lights" material, and it isn't.  Yet it isn't a bad film.

The film's women though, stand on ceremony in a metaphorical way, like angels ready to swoop in and rescue or comfort their troubled or beleaguered men at a moment's notice.  "I believe in you," says Nancy Smith-Burkett (Melora Walters) of her husband Bill, whose invention is facing pressure from an unscrupulous local business man (Richard Portnow) whose profit motives are the bottom line.  (The businessman's son is, surprise, surprise, Hoover's rival quarterback.)  Nancy is the rock of the Burkett family of course, and in "Underdogs" Ms. Walters ("Boogie Nights", "Magnolia") has little more to do than comfort or marvel at her family's changes in fortune.  The Burketts also go to church, as does most of Canton, but the divine intervention that St. Thomas Aquinas might offer hasn't historically blessed the football team.

"Underdogs" is admittedly clichéd but it is a film that is always easy on the eyes.  The actors serve their roles well enough, including D.B. Sweeney, who plays Aquinas coach Vince DeAntonio, a man committed to winning, and perhaps winning the heart of a bartender along the way.  That sounds as cliché as it gets but surprisingly, watching "Underdogs", which arrived in several select theaters today and on demand on November 5th, isn't the worst thing you can do with two hours of your weekend.

Also with: Natalie Imbruglia, Jay Thomas, Charlie Carver, Keith Loneker Sr.

"Underdogs" is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association Of America for some language.  The film's running time is one hour and 43 minutes. 
 

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