← Back to Reviews
in
Radio
The screenplay is a little on the syrupy side, but the 2003 fact-based melodrama Radio is so well-acted you almost don't notice.
James "Radio" Kennedy is a mentally challenged black man who walks around the small town where he reside pushing a shopping cart full of possessions until he meets Coach Jones, the head coach of the local high school football team. who after recusing Radio from a cruel prank played on him by the team, decides to make him part of the team as an assistant, which the kids initially resist, but they learn to tolerate him until some over the top behavior by Radio causes the team to start losing games, and Coach Jones begins losing respect from the school and the town, but Coach Jones refuses to give up on Radio.
Mike Rich and Gary Smith's screenplay places the viewer's sympathies on Radio from jump and makes it a little hard to see why Coach Jones is getting so much flack for trying to help Radio. The small town where this film takes place is one of those towns, like the Tom Cruise movie All the Right Moves where the whole town is completely involved with the high school football team, primarily because they have nothing better. Unlike the Cruise film, this is a true story as we learn as the credits roll, but the story is predictable and offers no surprises, including the subplot involving the Coach seeming to care more about the football team than he does for his wife and daughter.
Cannot deny that the scene where Coach finds Radio tied up in the equipment shed a heartbreaker, but the scenes where Radio gets more and more integrated into the team were kind of silly and I also found the team's immediate acceptance of Radio in their orbit a little swallow, though we do learn later on that a couple of team members aren't as accepting as we were led to believe, but by this time in the film, we know that no matter what trouble Radio gets in, Coach is going to get him out of it.
Eight years after winning the Best Supporting Oscar for Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding Jr puts a lot of work and detail into the title character, which he literally disappears in , leaving all images of Rod Tidwell behind him. Three time Oscar nominee Ed Harris is beautifully understated as Coach Jones. Also enjoyed Debra Winger as Coach's wife, Alfre Woodard as the principa, and S Epatha Merkeson as Radio's mom. The film really manipulates viewer emotion, but the manipulation works.
The screenplay is a little on the syrupy side, but the 2003 fact-based melodrama Radio is so well-acted you almost don't notice.
James "Radio" Kennedy is a mentally challenged black man who walks around the small town where he reside pushing a shopping cart full of possessions until he meets Coach Jones, the head coach of the local high school football team. who after recusing Radio from a cruel prank played on him by the team, decides to make him part of the team as an assistant, which the kids initially resist, but they learn to tolerate him until some over the top behavior by Radio causes the team to start losing games, and Coach Jones begins losing respect from the school and the town, but Coach Jones refuses to give up on Radio.
Mike Rich and Gary Smith's screenplay places the viewer's sympathies on Radio from jump and makes it a little hard to see why Coach Jones is getting so much flack for trying to help Radio. The small town where this film takes place is one of those towns, like the Tom Cruise movie All the Right Moves where the whole town is completely involved with the high school football team, primarily because they have nothing better. Unlike the Cruise film, this is a true story as we learn as the credits roll, but the story is predictable and offers no surprises, including the subplot involving the Coach seeming to care more about the football team than he does for his wife and daughter.
Cannot deny that the scene where Coach finds Radio tied up in the equipment shed a heartbreaker, but the scenes where Radio gets more and more integrated into the team were kind of silly and I also found the team's immediate acceptance of Radio in their orbit a little swallow, though we do learn later on that a couple of team members aren't as accepting as we were led to believe, but by this time in the film, we know that no matter what trouble Radio gets in, Coach is going to get him out of it.
Eight years after winning the Best Supporting Oscar for Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding Jr puts a lot of work and detail into the title character, which he literally disappears in , leaving all images of Rod Tidwell behind him. Three time Oscar nominee Ed Harris is beautifully understated as Coach Jones. Also enjoyed Debra Winger as Coach's wife, Alfre Woodard as the principa, and S Epatha Merkeson as Radio's mom. The film really manipulates viewer emotion, but the manipulation works.