THE MIRACLE SEASON – Rated PG – 1 hr. 39 mins
Director: Sean McNamara
Writers: David Aaron Cohen, Elissa Matsueda
Starring: Helen Hunt, William Hurt, Danika Yarosh, Tiera Skovbye, and Erin Moriarty
Based on the true story of Iowa City West’s State Champion volleyball team ~ we meet Caroline Found (Danika Yarosh), “Line” as she is so fondly nicknamed, the vivacious Captain of the Iowa City Volleyball team, always putting needs in this life ahead of her own, including taking time to push her best-friend-for-life Kelly (Erin Moriarty) to be the best that she can be…
With Senior year upon them, powerhouse Iowa City has their sights set on being the returning champs at State this year, when tragedy strikes, and all of their hopes and dreams may have just slipped away, as their Leader and Captain has tragically been taken from them.
As the team, and Coach Kathy Bresnahan (Helen Hunt) struggle to come to terms with the loss of Line, it is going to take the incredible strength of Line’s BFF Kelly, and the support of her grieving father Ernie (William Hurt) to get these girls back on track ~ if for no other reason ~ than to make Line proud as they try to move on in her absence…
I give THE MIRACLE SEASON a rating of: WAIT AND CATCH THIS FILM ON NETFLIX OR STREAMING. Being myself a parent of 2 women’s Volleyball players at both High School and select program levels, I was totally pumped to catch this film. And having the opportunity to see two academy award winners (Hurt as Best Actor in 1985 for KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, and Hunt as Best Actress in 1998’s AS GOOD AS IT GETS) in starring roles as well, made it even more enticing to view. But, sadly, even those two facts couldn’t bring me to give this film a “MUST SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN” review, as it just didn’t have the depth and intenseness I was hoping for at any turn. In actuality, this film feels more like a made-for-TV-movie, than a feature film. Hunt is adequate in her role as Coach Bresnahan, and Moriarty is okay too, playing Line’s best friend, bringing some dimension to the role when she is forced to step into being Captain for their team. The best performance for me, by far in this film, is that of Hurt’s, as he plays the grieving father, who also had to muster up the strength to support his team, as the school’s Principal. And in the film defense too, having just experienced the excitement and thrill of my youngest daughter, and her team the ALTHOFF CATHOLIC CRUSADERS winning their own state championship this past Fall, may have lent to the anticlimactic feel this film had for me throughout. But, I also don’t think that was the only pitfall that made me feel the way I do about this movie. Basically, If you love volleyball, then by all means, don’t let me stop you from viewing this touching and poetically played out true story. But, if you are wanting to be blown away in any way by what you are about to view at a theater near you this weekend, then you might want to catch a scary movie (A QUIET PLACE) or a Funny film (BLOCKERS) this weekend, and wait to catch THE MIRACLE SEASON when it hits on Netflix or other streaming services…
Kathy Kaiser
MATINEE CHAT with Kathy Kaiser 