McFarland, USA [2015] review

Kevin Costner plays Kevin Costner who does just enough to keep us interested. The real stars are the Mexican-American high school students who unfortunatelyhave to share screen time and story with the actors playing Kevin Costner's family AND the Mexican-Americans adults that are portrayed as gangsters, but SPOILER ALERT, are simply just a group of automobile enthusiasts. The movie thinks that the story of these cross country runners wouldn't be interesting enough that they had to pad it with side stories that just distracted from the main plot. I enjoyed the main plot and there is one specific scene towards the end of the movie that really pulls at the heartstrings. Also since this was based off a true story, I really enjoyed the recap of the current status of the original cross country team as well as the real life coach that Costner portrayed. It was definitely better than Disney's "Million Dollar Arm", and part of me thinks that they could have cast Jon Hamm in Kevin Costner's role and you could have still had the same movie. All in all, it may not sound like it, but it was enjoyable and the end was just enough to save it.