Review: Glory Road

Just caught Glory Road with my movie buddy, Colin. The bottom line was it was a story that needed telling, and it was told well. It didn't have a defining scene or performance that took it into the upper echelon of sports movies, but I don't think any movie has since Field of Dreams. Buoyed by the significance of the actual event, I'll put Glory Road right up there with any sports movie since Ray heard the voice.

Coincidentally, Josh Lucas looks and sounds identical to Kevin Costner, but that's neither here nor there.

Sports movies as a rule feature ensemble casts, which can cause a couple problems. First, if you try to get too many stars on the team, they end up being a distraction. Second, some movies go too far to make each character interesting, and wind up with the "Batman: Sequels" problem, where there were just too many storylines going on for too many different characters. Glory Road, fortunately, did not fall into either trap.

The basketball action wasn't striking, as I think I remember it being in Coach Carter a year ago, but it wasn't distracting either. I give it a B in that category.

But most importantly, they didn't go too far to Hollywoodize a story that was powerful enough on its own (see Jeff Merron's Reel Life column). Make sure you stay during the credits, because they interview some of the players, Haskins, and Pat Riley, who led Kentucky against Texas Western that year. Watching those sound bites, I realized I would have preferred an hour long Sportscentury about the team. But not everyone would, and that's why Glory Road is a success.

OK, I gotta get back to the TV room. The Big East is finally displaying it's dominance for the nation to see!