McFarland USA, currently at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes

26.2 would also be a good number.

Old Ultra Guy wrote:

Randy Oldman wrote:

imdb.com

Fire on the Track: The Steve Prefontaine Story - 8.1

Chariots of Fire - 7.2

Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - 7.2

McFarland USA - 6.8

Prefontaine - 6.8

Personal Best - 6.2 (way too low).

Running Brave 6.7

The Games 6.2 (what? Maybe 2.6 would be right!)

And let's not forget

Running - 5.8

XY wrote:

The actors look so heavy and doughy. Certainly don't look like true runners

Mexicans are stout.

J.R. wrote:

That's too bad. They should have filmed with the real team and coach.

There was a movie about that Arizona native team a few years ago that was a really good movie, including a couple of seasons and real meets.

You mean "Run To The East"? That was a documentary (hence the "real meets"). "McFarland, USA" is fiction, and Disney fiction at that.

But don't worry, you get a nice cameo from the real Jim White and most of the first McFarland state championship team at the very end -- yup, fortysomething-year-old guys.

Interestingly, the official Disney trailer with Spanish subtitling shows the alternate title "McFarland: Sin Límites" -- McFarland: Without Limits.

Pre lives.

Randy Oldman wrote:

imdb.com

Fire on the Track: The Steve Prefontaine Story - 8.1

Chariots of Fire - 7.2

Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - 7.2

McFarland USA - 6.8

Prefontaine - 6.8

Personal Best - 6.2 (way too low).

You forgot this one...

The Yin and Yang of Running - 6.9

info maniac wrote:

Randy Oldman wrote:

imdb.com

Fire on the Track: The Steve Prefontaine Story - 8.1

Chariots of Fire - 7.2

Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - 7.2

McFarland USA - 6.8

Prefontaine - 6.8

Personal Best - 6.2 (way too low).

You forgot this one...

The Yin and Yang of Running - 6.9

Maybe i was just little but in my mind to compare Chariots of Fire to McFarland is just wrong. McFarland is worth watching - one I'd definitely show on a bus if I was still coaching - but it's not a classic like a Bull Durham or Academy Award winner like Chariots of Fire.

IF Costner and Disney weren't behind it, no one would be paying any attention to it and we'd view it as some low-budget, predictable cheese-fest.

I hope it does well but it's 89% RT is down to 77%. No way it stays at 89%. We gave it a good review when we saw it but definitely gave it a few bonus points as we are running fans.

Here is our review:

Call me surprised. With Costner and Disney behind it, I figured it would be the usual mass marketed drivel the critics would crap on. But then again, maybe it helps the critics don't know XC? No idea, anyone actually seen it yet?

Editor's note: We've seen it and liked it. Our review appears here:

"McFarland USA is a winner ... This movie will certainly become a classic on all team bus rides for years to come."

It's definitely worth seeing for a running fan but not a true classic like Bull Durham or anything close to an Academy Award winner like Chariots of Fire.

PS. The Rotten Tomatoes rating is now down to 77%.

there is praying and the words "FAITH" on the screen during the trailer. that's how you know it will be bad.

also, we all know there are no miracles in running.

Rojo - that link is for an article about the Terre Haute course. Same problem with the link on the main page.

Yo Filly wrote:

J.R. wrote:

That's too bad. They should have filmed with the real team and coach.

There was a movie about that Arizona native team a few years ago that was a really good movie, including a couple of seasons and real meets.

You mean "Run To The East"?

"Racing the Rez," with Billy Orman.

CAGuy wrote:

Rojo - that link is for an article about the Terre Haute course. Same problem with the link on the main page.

It is a multi-item page. Scroll down to bullet #3

couple links:

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-mcfarland-jim-white-19971201-story.html#page=1

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/McFarland-USA-review-Costner-wins-us-over-6089762.php

I respect this reviewer, he knows his stuff.

Could this finally be the 2nd hit movie about running? (Chariots of Fire).

It seems like running movies almost always suck, and contain unrealistic scenes, or mouth droppers like the runners racing the opposite way around the track, or, for Christsake, how many books and movies have their been where the writers decided to write a sports story with a gay athlete or coach, and the sport they picked? Track and field. It will be nice to see a just plain true and good story about cross country and running without all the phoniness of so many running movies.

I have to admit I am a long time Costner fan, obviously not for his flops -- for the reasons stated in the review linked above.

When he is in the right vehicle he is sort of a modern Gary Cooper. Earnest, humble All American dude.

(A Russian gal I once dated said "You Americans, you Californians, you're always so optimistic and positive." Give the alternative, I'll go with it.)

I rarely see wait to see movies in the theater any longer, this one, looks like it will be fun to see with a full crowd.

I hope it is a HIT, XC and track seem to be at a high point in HS's these days as well as the USA having something of a distance resurgence of late.

Enjoy the movie!

Shoebacca wrote:

Lot of haters here for a movie that's targeted at inspiring kids. I just hope it gets a few more kids to try XC in high school.

I'll go this weekend and I expect I'll enjoy it. This is a tough crowd at LR, though. These folks know running and that will likely make it harder for them to enjoy it.

The average kid might like it more and it sure doesn't hurt to have a movie about running that's not total crap.

Now they need to do a girls xc movie. I can't think of a single movie about a female runner, yet it's the biggest demo in running right now. (Running, not racing - as Jack Welch would point out, running a marathon in a tutu is not racing!) Darn few books, either.

Saw the movie a couple of weeks ago at a free advance screening. Not too impressed.

Yes, it is based on a true story, but the movie doesn't even try to avoid cliches and predictable moments.

A documentary would have played out better than an over-hyped, glossed-over chessefest.

I just got home from the theater and I enjoyed McFarland. It wasn't as cheesy as I expected or what I've read on this board. We know how the real story ended with them winning state so it is not cheese that this is how the movie goes as well.

How do you make a story about poor immigrant kids at a low income school that wins state and they all go to college and have better lives without the feel good moments everyone is calling cheesy?

As for the running, yes you could tell they were actors and not real runners. Though a few of the kids on the team looked as if they could have been runners.

Overall a movie worth watching I thought.

Looking forward to this movie, i hope it's good.

MPR28 wrote:

Saw the movie a couple of weeks ago at a free advance screening. Not too impressed.

Yes, it is based on a true story, but the movie doesn't even try to avoid cliches and predictable moments.

A documentary would have played out better than an over-hyped, glossed-over chessefest.

And when was the last time a documentary was majorly released across the country in an American movie theatre? Probably 1975. I think I went to see one of those called "In Search of Noah's Ark" when I was 8.

I'm with you about loving documentaries but major studios don't make movies that don't make big money. I would love to see a movie about running even being released nationwide. This one is the first one I can recall since I went to see that horrible movie with Michael Douglas as an Olympic marathoner about 35 years ago.

I listen to Cleveland AM radio and every Friday on my work commute they have this movie reviewer called "Fat Guys at the Movies" and he gave it a positive review, Even commented that a movie about cross country sounded like a "snoozefest" but it was decent enough to give it a lukewarm positive 3 star review.

J.R. wrote:

XY wrote:

The actors look so heavy and doughy. Certainly don't look like true runners

That's too bad. They should have filmed with the real team and coach.

There was a movie about that Arizona native team a few years ago that was a really good movie, including a couple of seasons and real meets.

Ok, I sat on the couch with my wife and she said, "Those kids don't look like cross country runners, even your worst team was quite a bit thinner then those guys"

Yeah those don't look the like the skinny outlast kids who are willing to run for an hour or two every day. Sorry won't go see it....

Thank you for your honest review. That summed up just about every running movie that I have ever seen - usually I felt embarrassed to be watching the movie, then felt compelled to defend it. I liked Chariots of Fire, but the theme of the movie wasn't really about running.

One-Eyed Midget wrote:

I watched the trailer. Let's be honest - this movie is atrocious cheese. You want to like it, because it's about XC, so you say things like "it's pretty good/it's not as cheesy as you might expect". But make no mistake: it's garbage.