Seabiscuit
Director: Gary Ross
Year Released: 2003
Rating: 2.5
The story of several losers who come together to achieve greatness - it isn't as much about the horse than about the need for the three outcasts to will themselves to success: it is, in a sense, mainly a cinematic motivational speech. Considering that, platitudes and monologues to 'put it all in perspective' are frequent and usually delivered by Jeff Bridges and could be cast aside as Americana schmaltz, but I got caught up in the story of several men who couldn't get a break and their desire to be a part of something - it's handsomely directed and paced very well. The movie does blatantly ignore the ugly aspect of the story - namely, the fact that people only care about the horses because they're betting on them - and tries very hard to draw parallels between the fiery 'small' horse and the hostile jockey, but as far as manufactured Hollywood products go, it's of a higher grade than their usual assembly-line dramatic escapades.
