Limp 'Biscuit' [Review of 'Seabiscuit' with political shot at Republicans and conservatives]

Fort Worth Star-Telegram ^ | July 25, 2003 | Christopher Kelly

[hattend]

Limp 'Biscuit'

'Seabiscuit' pulls up lame, courtesy of a director who should have reined in the sentimentality
By Christopher Kelly
Star-Telegram Film Critic


"You don't throw a whole life away just because it's banged up a little," horse trainer Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) says to horse owner Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges). Just in case you miss the point that this is "The Theme of the Movie," director Gary Ross stops the proceedings cold for 30 seconds to let the words slowwwllllllyyyyyy sink in. An hour later, just in case you were taking a bathroom break the first time around, Howard repeats the same line back to Smith -- and the movie stops cold for another 30 seconds.

Seabiscuit, from Laura Hillenbrand's biography of the famous racehorse of the 1930s, is that kind of movie: big and square, earnest and obvious. If you felt pummeled over the head by Bad Boys II or Terminator 3, you'll need twice as much protective headgear to get through this one. The strings swell on the soundtrack, oh, about every eight seconds, and there are enough dewy shots of horses galloping in the sunset to, well, choke a horse. The movie does everything it can to make you cry, short of flashing the words "You are a cold, morally rotten person if you aren't weeping right now" on the screen.

Well, you're not cold or morally rotten. You've just stumbled upon the latest example of Hollywood taking something modest and intelligent and blowing it wildly out of proportion. Hillenbrand's book is even-tempered and scrupulously researched, with a fine eye for the telling detail and a deft ability to locate Seabiscuit within a broader historical context. This small, underachieving horse came along smack in the middle of the Depression, just when Americans needed to believe in the possibility of an underdog.

But from the opening frames of the film version, as historian David McCullough narrates in his best Stuffy Old Man voice, it's clear that Ross is far more interested in mythmaking than storytelling, archetypes instead of characters. We meet "Three Broken Men"-- the wealthy car magnate Charles Howard, whose child died in a car accident; the solitary trainer Tom Smith, who only seems to speak to horses; and the half-blind jockey Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire), whose parents abandoned him when he was a teen-ager. We wait for "The Mysterious Horse," perhaps sent to them from God, who will unite them and lead them forward.

Whereas Hillenbrand was content to let the reader connect the dots, this movie spells everything out in block capital letters. There's a nice touch early on, when Cooper first sees Seabiscuit fighting with a group of trainers and then sees Pollard fighting with a group of jockeys -- and realizes the two may be karmically connected. But Ross so belabors this notion -- at one point, he holds on a shot of Pollard and Seabiscuit wearing similar leg casts for about 15 beats too long -- it's as if he's setting us up for the horror movie sequel in which Pollard becomes possessed by Seabiscuit.

Ross, who also wrote the screenplay, does a solid job distilling Hillenbrand's knotty narrative -- which has Smith discovering the unruly, beaten-down Seabiscuit and nursing him back into shape. In a number of the horse-racing sequences, cinematographer John Schwarztman brings his camera right into the jockey's faces and bodies, lending a you-are-riding-it immediacy to a sport that often feels alien and unreal-looking when encountered on film or television.

But the movie rushes through the heart of Seabiscuit's story -- his rivalry with Triple Crown winner War Admiral, and the public's long-standing thirst to see the two horses compete head-to-head. Instead, Ross makes like a television news producer during sweeps month and opts for the "human interest" angle. The violins turn deafening in the final two reels, as the then-severely-injured Pollard tries to ride the then-severely-injured Seabiscuit one last time. By the time Maguire was babbling about the healing power of this almighty horse, I had pretty much checked out.

Considering the heartless alternatives out there, I suspect this kind of big, sloppy treacle will probably go over big. All that proves is that no one ever went broke by pandering to white, middle-class audiences. Indeed, from its stately pace to its gleaming photography to the fact that the only African-American character seems to have stepped out of a regional theater production of Driving Miss Daisy, the movie has a neo-conservative undercurrent that dovetails a little too comfortably with the current political climate. Seabiscuit is deeply in love with a nostalgic, rally-round-the-underdog way of life -- a way of life that exists only in old movies and Republican stump speeches. This movie wants us to cherish "how things used to be," and it's made with so much elan that we may not notice that its version of the truth is nothing but hogwash.

Seabiscuit **1/2

Director: Gary Ross

Stars: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper

Length: 140 min.

Rated: PG-13 (sexual content, strong language, mild violence)

[hattend]

This movie wants us to cherish "how things used to be,"

So, I do this all the time.

[The KG9 Kid]

They have sourpuss gay movie reviewers in Dallas/Fort Worth just like they do here in San Francisco, eh?

[John O]

If I don't like movies that show young stick-like women as sex objects, bumping and grinding their pelvic bones or people having gratuitous sex and nudity, violence, drugs, guys with big dicks, fat heads and stupid BS bravado dialogue, carrying big guns & crashing cars then I am glad to be in the tasteless group!!

I'm sorry. I've tried to let this go but it won't leave me alone. In the middle of your paragraph you mention 'guys with' etc. What kind of movies are you watching that you would know this? Have you been bad? :^)

[writmeister]

Actually, I think it is Todd Camp who is gay and always trumpeting gay films. Chris Kelly is more of a snob who sniffs his nose up at any film that will be popular with most people.

[ought-six]

Ever notice that most of the very wealthy Dims never EARNED their fortunes? Most inherited their bucks (Kennedys, Rockefellers, etc.) or married it (Kerry, Feinstein, Pelosi, and most of the Hollywood trolls) or extorted it as trial lawyers (Edwards, Gephart, et als). About the only Dim I can think of who truly created and made his money is Bill Gates.

[squidly]

Seabiscuit is deeply in love with a nostalgic, rally-round-the-underdog way of life -- a way of life that exists only in old movies and Republican stump speeches.

That's a very odd thing to say in light of the Kucinich campaign's proclamation of this film as their own advertisement.

[discostu]

I see a lot of movie previews (comes with seeing a lot of movies), that covers about 90% of my chick flick exposure in the last 15 years. The other 10% I blame primarily on bad commercials that didn't properly warn me, or accidents of channel surfing, sometimes somebody convinces me I was wrong I stopped listening to them. That's why I've learned to study the previews, that way if they try to throw a Julia Roberts movie at me in such a way that it seems potentially watchable I know not to believe them. Before then I was a prisoner of my mother's taste in movies, then there was dating. Important safety tip for young FReepers: any time a girl you're dating wants you to take her to a chick flick you're not getting any, no girl is ever in the mood after crying their eyes out for 20 minutes, and even if they were their face is all puffy and red so you wouldn't want to anyway.

I don't tear up easy the only movie that makes me cry is The Shootist, but I sense them going for me, I hear the swelling violins as the director turns on the "cry now" subliminals. Generally I find it annoying, if you don't mind getting kicked out of the theater that's a great moment to loudly proclaim "and now's when we're all supposed to cry because the frigid b!tch is finally gonna get some". Note to young FReepers: you WAY won't get any if you get kicked out for mocking her tears, only do what I just outlined as step one of dumping the girl.

[coydog]

I'm doing something like that. Only the horse is an android (picture a four-footed, 1300-pound Data with the same pound-for-pound strength). In my long-term plot line, antecedent to the main action, he does get to stomp some terrorists into steak tartare. A violent kidnap, rape and murder would be as good a justification as anything for such dirtbag removal.

[It's me]

Actually, Seabiscuit's owner was a "self-made-millionaire" He made his money selling Buicks after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. After his son died in a car accident, he got into horse racing with his second wife.

[John O]

Generally I find it annoying, if you don't mind getting kicked out of the theater that's a great moment to loudly proclaim "and now's when we're all supposed to cry because the frigid b!tch is finally gonna get some". Note to young FReepers: you WAY won't get any if you get kicked out for mocking her tears, only do what I just outlined as step one of dumping the girl.

Truly living dangerously to do this. Even conservative chicks cry at these chick flicks and don't take mockery lightly.

As an off topic side-bar: I heard the absolute best "anonymous feedback report entry for a sensitivity class" line the other day. (from Chad Fairbanks IIRC). When they ask for comments he replied "The instructor had a nice rack"

So beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes. (HEY! I managed to relate it to the thread kind of). I thought you'd enjoy it too.

[discostu]

Between you and the "me-love-you-long-time" picture caption thread people are sure to figure out that I'm not being productive.

[Clemenza]

Although there were a few black jockeys in those days

I seem to remember seeing black jockeys on certain elderly neighbors lawns when I was a kid.

[Major Matt Mason]

We're starting to here from the libs the same sort of garbage that they spewed about the 80's, when Reagan was President. You can always tell someone is a liberal when they immediately start trashing anything to do with the 80's (music, movies, etc.). Glad to see they haven't developed any new tactics.

[A_perfect_lady]

There seems to be some rule in Hollywood that every film must contain at least one African-American character --preferably in the role of scientist, neuro-surgeon, police captain or the always faithful "Magic Negro" role (i.e., "Green Mile, Legend of Bagger Vance", and many more) where a helpless white dude is brought out of his shell by a mysterious black man who enters his life and makes personal sacrifices so that poor whitey can find his way.

I call it the Noble Savage Syndrome.

[TheMole]

I believe it was Spike Lee who first applied the "Magic Negro" term. Although I am not one of his admirers, he was absolutely dead on with that one as far as Hollywood is concerned. There are Australian movies which have aboriginal characters of the same type. European movies often use Arabs (seen as a combination of unrestrained id and noble savage) or other "Third World" people in this way.

[x]

Considering the heartless alternatives out there, I suspect this kind of big, sloppy treacle will probably go over big. All that proves is that no one ever went broke by pandering to white, middle-class audiences. Indeed, from its stately pace to its gleaming photography to the fact that the only African-American character seems to have stepped out of a regional theater production of Driving Miss Daisy, the movie has a neo-conservative undercurrent that dovetails a little too comfortably with the current political climate. Seabiscuit is deeply in love with a nostalgic, rally-round-the-underdog way of life -- a way of life that exists only in old movies and Republican stump speeches. This movie wants us to cherish "how things used to be," and it's made with so much elan that we may not notice that its version of the truth is nothing but hogwash.

That sounds a lot like "The Majestic," which asked us to "rally round" Jim Carrey's underdog when he was accused of having been a Communist and hauled up before a Congressional committee. The forms of popular culture are there for who ever wants to use them. To think that the left escapes sentimentality or kitsch is to make a serious mistake.

It sounds like Kelly didn't give the movie a chance and didn't make any effort to meet it on its own ground. It might be a bad film, but Kelly appears to have something against the whole genre. A better critic would have been able to stick it to the film without calling so much attention to himself and his own psychological idiosyncrasies.

[fight_truth_decay]

Excellent film. Tobie Maquire at his best...actor and one of the producers.

A horse considered too small, a jockey considered too tall, a trainer with who knew the heart of a horse and an entrepreneur who looked to the future.

Seabiscuit - When "the people" fill the cheap seats, a champion is made.

If you see one film this summer make it Seabiscuit. It was great to see the use of parallel montages, different camera angles, character development, excellent cinematography and just an all around great story which I believe couldn't have been told any better on film.

Sexual content, strong language ? Not so! Children younger than 13 were in attendance with their parents.

Very enjoyable and relaxing evening. I would definitely recommend, especially to the Freepers who say they don't make films like they used to.

My opinion
fight_truth_decay

[eddie willers]

and even if they were their face is all puffy and red so you wouldn't want to anyway.

As Harry said to Sally in that (surprisingly good) chick flick, ""No. You pretty much want to nail them too."

[nutmeg]

read later bump