***SPOILERS***I am split about this movie. On one hand, the acting and the dialogue was very good. There are a few scenes that I will always remember, like when Lucas saw Maggie for the first time playing tennis or when he got onto the stage, was embarrassed but still had a good time making fun of the coach.
On the other hand, I couldn't believe how much people acted like football was instant suicide for Lucas. I couldn't get past how ridiculous it was. (Of course no one ever started trying out a week before the first game of the season either). But people seemed to act like this kid was a paper bag and football was played with Lions and not people.
I went to a high school that was somewhat football centric (In Illinois like the movie) unlike some high school in Texas or Pennsylvania maybe, and there were a couple smaller kids on the football team. If they weren't good, then they just didn't play much. Anyway, the only reason the kid got hurt was because he took his helmet off, which would have resulted in a penalty in real life. (That whole game was ridiculously unrealistic). I feel the unrealistic game, and the attitudes about football are so hard to believe that it takes away from the great heartfelt stories of the film.
The great thing about the film is how atypical it treated the "top jock" and the girl Maggie. They were both really nice kids. The movie made all three characters, Lucas, Maggie, Cappie very whole people and not just clichés. Someone had obviously put a great deal of thought into these characters. The movie doesn't force anything and we are left to make up our minds about the characters based on something more personal to us. I tried to think of the football in the movie as just equivalent to superficiality in general in our society. Personally, I think the movie could have been a lot better if it had handled it differently somehow. The attitudes from all the adults in the movie, the school administrator, the coach, about the kid wanting to play football being crazy, just seemed too ridiculous to me.
On the other hand, I couldn't believe how much people acted like football was instant suicide for Lucas. I couldn't get past how ridiculous it was. (Of course no one ever started trying out a week before the first game of the season either). But people seemed to act like this kid was a paper bag and football was played with Lions and not people.
I went to a high school that was somewhat football centric (In Illinois like the movie) unlike some high school in Texas or Pennsylvania maybe, and there were a couple smaller kids on the football team. If they weren't good, then they just didn't play much. Anyway, the only reason the kid got hurt was because he took his helmet off, which would have resulted in a penalty in real life. (That whole game was ridiculously unrealistic). I feel the unrealistic game, and the attitudes about football are so hard to believe that it takes away from the great heartfelt stories of the film.
The great thing about the film is how atypical it treated the "top jock" and the girl Maggie. They were both really nice kids. The movie made all three characters, Lucas, Maggie, Cappie very whole people and not just clichés. Someone had obviously put a great deal of thought into these characters. The movie doesn't force anything and we are left to make up our minds about the characters based on something more personal to us. I tried to think of the football in the movie as just equivalent to superficiality in general in our society. Personally, I think the movie could have been a lot better if it had handled it differently somehow. The attitudes from all the adults in the movie, the school administrator, the coach, about the kid wanting to play football being crazy, just seemed too ridiculous to me.