Review of My All American (2015) by Jason M — 19 Nov 2015

My All American.

Initial Reaction: Your All American...what?

Main Characters.

Freddie Stienmark: He's a short guy who can play football. He's played by Finn Wittrock.

Darrell Royal: He's the coach of Texas. He's played by Aaron Eckhart.

Plot Summary.

It is the 1960's and Fredie is performing at a high level on the football field. However, not many colleges are taking him seriously because he's really short.

But things change when he gets an offer from Coach Royal to play at Texas - something he instantly grabs for.

And over the next few years, he is living the good like. He has a great girlfriend, some really good guy friends, and his team is working their way up the rankings - and are poised to become National Champions of college football.

But something sinister lurks in the future for Freddie, his friends and his family, and it will shock them to the core.

SCORING.

Main Characters.

I like these two a lot - they have great chemistry on screen and its fun to see how they figure out how to beat the other team.

However, Freddie does become a bit too much of the perfect guy with the perfect girl and the perfect life. SCORE: 6.

Supporting Cast.

The rest of the cast is really nice and friendly and ...maybe too much so. I was hoping that there was someone who wanted to challenge Freddie for his position on the football field or challenge him in some other way. But nope, that doesn't happen early enough. SCORE: 4.

Plot.

I have to say that the last fifteen to thirty minutes of this film is great. However, to get to the good scenes, you'll have to slog your way through forty-five minutes to an hour of the most generic football scenes possible. SCORE: 2.

Originality.

For the most part, this film plays out just like any other underdog sports film, including Hoosiers, We are Marshall, Remember the Titans, Pride, The Greatest Game Every Played, The Greatest Game They Ever Played, McFarland USA, and so on. The genre is way overdue for some new thinking. SCORE: 2.

Violence Factor.

There's not much violence on the gridiron - the football scenes are of average intensity. But this film thrives on using words to solve conflict, and sometimes that's a good thing. SCORE: 6.

Other Moral Issues.

This film has a great message in it, but it can't be buried under an hour's worth of generic football scenes. SCORE: 3.

Final Score (out of 60): 23 % Score: 38.33%.

It has a great heart, but this film needed bring out the main conflict a lot sooner, rather than force the audience to sit through a generic sports film to get to the great ending.