Seabiscuit


Even if I hadn’t known Seabiscuit is based on a popular story, I would have guessed it. Seabiscuit makes the fatal mistake of trying to get as much of the story in as possible instead of cutting unnecessary scenes. And Seabiscuit could have easily shaven off a half hour. The 141 min story brings three men of different backgrounds together through a horse named Seabiscuit. Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) is a wealthy businessman who, though hurt in the stock market crash, is trying to build back his fortune through horse racing. He finds Tom Smith (Chris Cooper), a horse loving loner, to find and train a horse for him and Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire), a strong spirited kid who has seen some hard times, to ride the horse. Despite multiple trials and struggles, the team finds a way to the top of the horse racing world. Each of these guys have found themselves rather lonely in the world after struggling through their respective trails; and yes, it’s Seabiscuit that brings them together. I do appreciate the references to American history and the suggested parallel of these guys as the common man in America during the depression – struggling against all odds and yet making it in the end. There are a lot of fun-filled and finely filmed race scenes; in fact the whole film is beautifully shot and warmly lit. We get above-average performances from the whole cast, which includes a fun one from William H. Macy as an energetic radio broadcaster. Standing far beyond the rest, however, is Chris Cooper, who nails his simple, earnest character through a nuanced performance and proves himself, once again, as one of the best actors in the business. But even Cooper’s supporting role can’t make up for the excess of footage. Howard’s backstory, which is gone into at some length, could have been told a whole lot more succinctly; and multiple other scenes throughout the entire film could have been harmlessly snipped at here and there. An even bigger problem is that we’re never really given a reason to be concerned about these characters. Sure, they’ve been through a lot. They’ve suffered. They’re all underdogs. And we love to see the underdogs win. But aside from the general concern that comes because of their hard luck, we don’t get any substantial reasons to root for these guys. Howard is just another rich guy out to make a buck and Pollard is, quite frankly, really just a punk. Tom Smith is the only sympathetic character but we never get enough of him to come to care that much. Oh, but it’s fun to see them succeed anyway. – perhaps just because they are indeed the main characters if nothing else. Seabiscuit falls short of either the strength of Rudy or the grace of Billy Elliot, but the race to the finish line is still a fun, heartwarming one.

Year:	MPAA Rating:	Running Time:	Date Written:
2003	PG-13	2:21	11/03
				film \| music \| books \| links