BLU-RAY REVIEW: McFarland USA

[JessHorsley]

Disney's Latest Sports Drama Delivers On Home Video...

I've been a Kevin Costner fan for decades and really started enjoying his work with 1990's Dances With Wolves. Sure, he's laid it on thick in some roles (1999 was one of those years with both For Love of the Game and Message in a Bottle) but incredible roles like those in 2003's Open Range and 2007's Mr. Brooks deliver stellar performances that impress even non-Costner fans. Over the last few years, the Academy-Award winning actor has drifted back and forth between dramas like 2014's Black or White) and action/thrillers like last year's 3 Days to Kill. Now, Kevin Costner is back in McFarland USA, a sports movie with a stereotypical, cliche and - oddly enough - enjoyable tale recounting the true story of California's first high school cross country state championship and the unlikely team that would overcome racism, abuse, and adversity in order to win it all.

McFarland USA tells the story of humiliated high school teacher and coach Jim White (Kevin Costner), who is desperate to provide for his wife and daughters after an incident (one in a long line of incidences) leaves him out of work and looking for a job. Together with his supportive wife Cheryl (Maria Bello) and his daughters Julie and Jamie (Morgan Saylor and Elsie Fisher), White moves from the Midwest to California - McFarland, California. The predominantly Latino population of McFarland makes for a significant and challenging transition for White and his family, who soon realize they're not in Kansas anymore. They learn this immediately upon moving into their new home when their Spanish-speaking next door neighbor welcomes them by giving their family a live chicken.

Of course, his work is just as challenging and difficult when White soon finds himself off the football team's coaching staff following a disagreement with another coach. So what is White, a man with a competitive spirit and a desire to coach and mentor young men, to do? After noticing high school student Thomas Valles (Carlos Pratts) running to and from work in the fields, home and school; White organizes a high school cross country team. So with Valles and six other young men - Johnny Samenjego (Hector Duran), Victor Puentas (Sergio Avelar), Jose Cardenas (Johnny Ortiz) and the Diaz brothers David, Damacio and Danny (Rafael Martinez, Michael Aguero and Ramiro Rodriguz) -- Coach White begins to build a team out of seven individuals who face unique and challenging circumstance. They train together, work together, laugh together, cry together and become - as with all successful and memorable sports teams - a family. On and off the track, these young men - and Coach White - learn what it takes to face adversity and overcome any and every obstacle life can throw at them.

McFarland USA is cliche. There, I said it. It's hard not to think of the twenty or so other sports films you've seen before this that use the exact same formula and exact same style of film-making in order to tell a story similar in concept and design. You've seen it before: a team faced with challenges, difficulty and despair must band together to overcome said challenges and become something more than the sum of their parts. Of course, this formula works; it works so well they're still using it to make movies which makes it all the more difficult to dislike McFarland USA.

The casting - with the previously mentioned Kevin Costner in the lead as Coach Jim White, Maria Bello as White's wife Cheryl, Morgan Saylor as White's teen daughter Julie and Carlos Pratts as White's stand-out runner Thomas Valles - provides solid, on-screen performances throughout. Costner and Bello have good on-screen chemistry and the scenes with Pratts as Valles are often brilliant, his emotional arch running just as long and hard as his cross country races. It's interesting to see the added, subtle relationship added to the film between Julie and Valles and how this directly impacts how Coach White finally comes to affirm his runners and his and his family's place in McFarland.

Considering the hot topic issue in American culture these days is racial tension, it's maybe timely and no doubt effective to consider McFarland USA as one of those films which leverages the race conversation and forces viewers to confront their beliefs on inequality, class warfare and poverty; all while forcing everyone to consider the advantages some have over others - both on and off the track, in and out of school, at work (no matter where that work is) and at home with one's family. Ironic maybe that their last name is White, but the film does a great job of addressing the previously mentioned racial issues. However, maybe there was a missed opportunity by not exploring how the White family became a part of the larger McFarland community. Of course we see on screen the family facing the new environment and their being welcomed, encouraged and aided by their radically hospitable Hispanic neighbors, but rarely do we see any of the real adversity and racial challenges the White family no doubt faced as one of the few white families in McFarland.

The video and audio are impressive with the 1080p video providing an engaging and inviting presentation of Southern California. The flower fields, fruit fields, almond mounds and dirty, dusty front yards all feel visceral and real while the details are sharp and blacks deep and dark. Likwise, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track brings to life the daily grind of those living and working in and around McFarland. The front channels carry most of the work, with dialogue clear and present in the front speakers. The surrounding channels provide dynamic use of audio during key scenes - cross country races, birthday parties and cruising the strip - as well as to deliver an enjoyable score by Antônio Pinto.

As far as special features and bonus material, the Blu-ray includes a Digital HD copy for use on digital devices as well as a number of other notable additions. The 9-minute "McFarland Reflections" is a short roundtable discussion shot on location and hosted by Kevin Costner that features the real Jim White and five runners from the original McFarland cross country team: Thomas Valles, Johnny Sameniego and David, Damacio and Danny Diaz. This is one of those bonus features you wish were longer. Coach White and his former runners have a lot to no doubt share and it would have been better to hear them as they explained more of the real story. Other special features include six deleted and extended scenes, a short 3-minute music video of "Juntos" by Juanes, and the 2-minute "Inspiring McFarland" behind-the-scenes promo piece. Disappointingly, there's no feature commentary or feature-length documentary on the real story of these amazing runners and their coach.

McFarland USA is one of those stereotypical sports films where the underdogs achieve what no one thought possible. It's cliche and even sometimes awkward...and yet it works...it works really well. There's no doubt those who enjoyed films like Remember the Titans, Miracle, The Blind Side and We Are Marshall will enjoy this film. Featuring a talented cast, an enjoyable story and real-life issues that will provide plenty of opportunity for further conversation, McFarland USA makes for an enjoyable time at the movies.

McFarland USA is rated PG for thematic material, some violence and language and is available now wherever fine home video is sold.

- Jess C. Horsley

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