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Director:
Gary Ross
Cast:
Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Banks,
William H. Macy |
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Review:
 Three damaged
people find a damaged animal and changed the world. David
McCulluch narrates a cross between a documentary and a romance
that manages to hit all the right buttons with performances which
knock one out.
This is "Seabiscuit," the wonder-horse that took America’s mind
off the remnants of the Great Depression and the preliminaries of
World War II.
Jeff Bridges plays one Charles Howard, car salesman
extraordinaire, who’s son Frankie is killed in a car crash. His
first marriage breaks up, and while in Tijuana trying to forget,
he meets wife #2(Elizabeth Banks), who gets him into the
horseflesh biz. But before that, he needs a trainer, and finds one
in a mysterious horse whisperer named Smith (Chris Cooper), who
takes a liking to a well bred but otherwise useless colt with the
eponymous name, and a down-and-out jockey/featherweight boxer
named John "Red" Pollard (Tobey Maguire), who’s angry and needs a
break.
The five of them begin what would be a platonic romance that
would charm the world. It charmed me, at any rate.
The performances are fantastic. Each of the four leads, as well
as real life jockey Gary Stevens, who plays Pollard’s legendary
friend and replacement George Woolf and William H. Macy, who plays
the comic relief radio announcer, give Oscar-worthy performances.
The race choreography is stunning. Writer-Director Gary Ross, who
gave us such flicks as "Big," "Dave," and "Pleasantville," has
outdone himself giving us the best serving of schmaltz we’ve seen
in a very long time.
This is the best film of the year as yet, and that includes
"Finding Nemo." You just HAVE to see this. Go! Now!!!
Eric Lurio
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