McFarland USA, currently at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes

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.

MarathonMind wrote:

so much cheese being discussed in this thread I can't tell if its in the movie or on the pizza.

My favorite type of cheese is probably gruyere.

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).

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

i'm in the state meet wrote:

The Donger wrote:

I don't think they actually filmed on the right courses which is a shame. Should have filmed at invites similar to what they do at pro games.

that was the original plan, but filming took place during the fall xc season. the state meet was filmed in LA (Griffith Park and Will Rodgers State Park), and could not be filmed in Fresno due to the real state meet and other meets being used.

Huh?

You hold it in between races or after the real meet. Like how they film stuff after a real nba game.

I plan on seeing it opening night. I would probably go see even if everyone said it sucked just because I want a running movie to make some money. If this running movie makes money, maybe there will be more running movies in the future. Maybe the studios will be willing to invest more money to deliver an even better product.

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

MarathonMind wrote:

so much cheese being discussed in this thread I can't tell if its in the movie or on the pizza.

My favorite type of cheese is probably gruyere.

Gorgonzola, provelone, don't even get me started on this microphone!

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.

Exactly, I'm not saying give it a free pass without any kind of critical eye, but if others want to be the runner guy that goes to this movie and points out every single thing that isn't 100% like it would be in a real xc meet that is their choice. I'd prefer to enjoy the movie/story and not nitpick every little thing about it. How can a mass marketed movie about cross country be bad for the sport? I can't see how it will lead to any less kids running and maybe it will have a positive influence on someone. All sports movies have some level of cheese in them to create some emotional connection with a general audience. I think that most who will want to nitpick all the running minutiae couldn't actually make a movie that more than 10,000 people nationally would enjoy.

That seems like a weird approach to movie-watching to me. When I watch a movie, generally I'm not concerned with whether it's good for the sport of cross-country, or how many new kids it inspires to take up running. I just want to watch a good movie! Inspiring sports movies like this are always crap. Just because it's about a sport I happen to like doesn't make it any better; if anything, it makes it worse.

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.

This movie may be about XC and it may be cheesy, but perhaps as a person of Latino descent, I'm able to glean from the trailer that this movie is less about running and more about a downtrodden Latino band of brothers' overcoming adversity and defying the odds.

imdb is really tough on all films. Anything over 8 for a new film is fairly rare. 7-8 means it's more than pretty decent. So all those films you list did pretty well (for imdb.)

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.

Because a bunch of dudes in their 40's look more like high school runners?

MarathonMind wrote:

so much cheese being discussed in this thread I can't tell if its in the movie or on the pizza.

Cheeeeeeeeeeese!

Go to about :28 seconds in

XY wrote:

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

J.R. wrote:

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

HardLoper wrote:

Because a bunch of dudes in their 40's look more like high school runners?

Wow that sucks!

I didn't realize their high school runners are 40 years old!

The movie is good! Saw an early showing last night. Very good movie. A feel good movie that isn't cheesy. Personally I felt the movie was well done and it's about as good as you can expect to capture a movie about high school xc. A lot of good messages that young people can learn. On top of all this the kids actually can learn a number of positive life lessons. Anyone who coaches xc or track could gain a lot of perspective about what is really important.

J.R. wrote:

XY wrote:

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

J.R. wrote:

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

HardLoper wrote:

Because a bunch of dudes in their 40's look more like high school runners?

Wow that sucks!

I didn't realize their high school runners are 40 years old!

Yep!

The story took place 27 years ago!

Now you know!

I'm really rooting for this movie, though as a latino, I'm bracing myself for those cringe-inducing depictions of latino youths Hollywood is known for. I'm sure it will have its share of "I want to go to collej, ese." moments.

But really my interest in this story is based on the fact that I saw it play out in real life. I ran against this very Mcfarland team. My high school was in the same division as them and we were near the top of the state rankings in the year depicted in this movie. So we were used to being competitive with the other big dogs. But it wasn't until the Mt. Sac invitational that I even learned of McFarland's existence. A mile into that race, a bend on the course allowed me to clearly see the lead pack. I remember seeing four white jerseys and black shorts way out in front. I'm not positive about the black shorts, but my point is that it was clear that those four guys all belonged to the same team and I immediately thought "who the f is that!?" We were obliterated.

It's down to 61% 7:45 EST Thursday and I'm going to bet by Friday, 5pm, it will get near its final rating of 48%.