McFarland, USA ***½ (2015, Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Carlos Pratts, Ramiro Rodriguez, Morgan Saylor, Elsie Fisher) – Movie Review

Kevin Costner’s film has legs: this will run and run.

Corny and sentimental though undoubtedly is, McFarland is also a beautifully done, sheering heart-warmer. Inhabiting the space with leathery charm, style and grace, a relaxed Kevin Costner is perfect as real-life Eighties high-school coach Jim White. Like White, Costner is never going to give up. Like White, he’ll never have to.

He moves his long-suffering wife Cheryl (Maria Bello) and two daughters (Morgan Saylor, Elsie Fisher) to a no-hope town, and no-hope job after being kicked out of his last job as a football coach for chucking a boot at an over-cocky student. That town is one of the poorest cities in America – McFarland, California.

The new school, students and locals give the struggling coach and teacher a, er, qualified welcome. He finds the local lads, veg pickers in the fields, can run like the wind, and talks the principal into starting a cross country team, with him as their coach. A totally fired-up Jim ignores his family and turns the seven chosen lads (Carlos Pratts is outstanding as the troubled Thomas Valles) into championship runners and a team that is one of the best in the USA.

It’s a Disney film, and this is the best of Disney. Director Niki Caro does a lovely job, keeping a very long movie running fast and fun, with lots of serious messages that don’t quite drown out the entertainment. Everybody turns out to be quite nice in the end. There are no villains, only heroes. Seven of them, eight including Jim White. There is no CGI or 3D glasses either. How good is that?

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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