Olympic Dreams--The Winning Season

This is a typical underdog sports story starring Sam Rockwell in a type of role he is good at, the loveable loser. It's a sort of a comedy version of Hoosiers (that movie is referenced in The Winning Season, which also takes place in Indiana). The writer of this movie (also from Indiana) wrote Lonesome Jim and Grace is Gone and so you can see the "sad loser" feeling seems to be a theme.

Rockwell is Bill, a divorced, alcoholic, middle-aged dad working as a busboy. He seems to have had some promise as a high school basketball player, but that dream didn't evolve. The principal of a local school who was a friend of Bill's asks Bill to coach the team. Bill is excited--until he finds out it is the girl's team. While Bill and the girls learn about each other, both don't think the other can do the job.

Bill seems too laid back but his training is smart, although it depends on the girls working hard, which is something he has trouble motivating them to do. Like his own first reaction, many think the girls are not worth very much.  Most of the players (one is Rooney Mara, the new Lisbeth Salander) have some kind of trait or storyline so you can tell them apart. Bill also has trouble relating to girl problems, so hires the female schoolbus driver (Margo Martindale) as assistant coach to help him in this aspect. She becomes both a mother hen as well as a pretty good legitmate assistant coach.

In addition to basketball, the girls deal with other problems: inattentive or too attentive boyfriends, sexual identity, racism, teamwork, etc. (these subplots are treated more realistically than you would find in a Disney film for example). Bill also of course deals with his ex-wife and his own basketball playing daughter who is not on the best of terms with him (this part of the story is less engaging). His team becomes his surrogate daughters as they begin to trust and respect him, and also try to help with his problems. Of course he teaches them about more than just basketball, but life values as well.

Like I said this is a typical sports story, the basic plot is average but the film is a little better than average due to Rockwell's good portrayal, the indie script which also tackles lightly some real life problems such as racism, immigrants, sexual identity, divorce, and that it is about girls for once and not boys; the assistant coach character also gets some story as well. Plus Rockwell also gets to be goofy too in the big championship game which I'm sure he enjoyed.