Ball bearing Sports makes a man out of another young twerp in ...

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Cody Clark - Daily Herald
There certainly ought to be a movie about Larry Gelwix and HighlandRugby, the Salt Lake City-based youth sports squad he has coachedfor more than 30 years with remarkable success both at winninggames and, more anecdotally, molding young men. "Forever Strong" crams Gelwix and Highland Rugby into amodestly winning high school sports drama that illuminates theprogram's unique history while also obscuring it with a lot of thecolorless mumbo-jumbo that filmmakers have relied on for decades toimpart Olympian grandeur to teenage game playing. Coach Gelwix isshown to be a nice guy and wise teacher, but the movie is much morecaught up in the blandly familiar travails of its generic boy rebelprotagonist than drawn to the truly intriguing philosophies of hismentor.
The substitute James Dean is Rick Penning, coach's son and starforward of the Flagstaff (Ariz.) Razorbacks, who begins the movieby almost knocking off quasi-mythical Highland Rugby. R.P. is abudding rugby Adonis with the athletic talent of Tiger Woods andthe reckless abandon and personal image management skills of JohnDaly. With a beer in one hand and steering wheel in the other,Little Ricky swerves right off the road to sports stardom and crashlands in juvenile detention -- lucky for him that he's only 17.
Somehow, despite residing and, to all appearances, transgressing incentral Arizona, Ricardo is detained in Salt Lake County. This isnever explained. Good thing for Tricky Dicky, however, since beingdeported to the Beehive State means his juvie overlord canconveniently involve him with his formerly hated Highland rivals.
Nobody calls Rick "Maverick," but between the smirking,swaggering Tom Cruise bravado of Sean Faris's lead performance andthe "absurdly gifted punk-butt learns to be a team player atthe highest level" storyline, the movie might as well becalled "Top Gun: The Rugby Years."
There's certainly an appetite for sports-themed cinematic comfortfood, and "Forever Strong" is seasoned a bit by itsintroduction to the American cultural mainstream of rugby,football's disdainful and more robustly macho big brother.
Instead of making the most of their original recipe, however,director Ryan Little and writer David Pliler fairly consistentlyreach for the corn dogs and cheese dip.
There's an entirely irrelevant and screamingly tacked-on subplot,for example, that provides a sort-of girlfriend to look concernedwhenever King Richard takes a rough hit during the Big Game. (Ofcourse there's a Big Game. Duh.) And Rigoletto's bad-boy formerteammates are so cartoonishly evil that I kept expecting one ofthem to bellow out, "I'll get you next time, He-Man!"
The movie is beautifully filmed and convincingly looks as though itcould have been produced in Hollywood for millions of dollars (itwas actually made in Utah, almost certainly for considerably less).
The actors who really are from the world of show business,including Sean Astin as our hero's detention caretaker, JulieWarner as his mother and especially Gary Cole as Gelwix, help themovie feel grounded and sincere. It may not stay with youindefinitely, but it's strong enough for a low-key night out.
B
Forever Strong
Director: Ryan Little
Cast: Sean Faris, Gary Cole, Penn Badgley, Sean Astin
Running time: 1 hr., 52 min.
Rating: PG-13 for thematic material involving teen drug and alcoholuse, and for some disturbing images
Location: Opens Friday at theaters everywhere