I really wanted to love this movie. I love horses and underdog stories. I loved "Seabiscuit". I'm a fan of Jim Lewis' direction of "Dances With Wolves". And, Skeet Ulrich got a well-deserved leading role. However, I feel the movie suffered from a blatant attempt to broaden it's Hollywood commercial appeal by adding t&a, drinking and partying scenes that did nothing to advance the story or create sympathy for the male characters. A good chunk of the movie reminded me more of a country music video with that country jukebox underscore, mindless Daisy Dukes babes, black hats and L.A.-tinged southern accents. It's like the movie couldn't decide if it was a sequel to "The Dukes of Hazzard" or "Mr. Ed". The screen time wasted on a meaningless, angry girlfriend scene could have been spent showing actual racehorse training and/or a deeper history of where "Bird" actually came from. What saved this film was Calvin Borel's surprisingly touching performance and of course, who doesn't love a great horse race.
