Miracle (2004)

Squarely told yet inspiring underdog story. Kurt Russell is great as the coach and all of the boys do a nice job (though it's apparent that most are skaters first, actors second). It's hard to do too much when the outcome is well-known, but I enjoyed this film anyway.

I was unhappy, however, with the subplot of the coach's life...which was not shown enough to have any impact except to waste time in an already long movie. Why not a shot of the mom alone at the child's program she describes to the husband over the phone? Or a decorating-the-tree-without-daddy scene instead of an ineffective note that forces us to fill in blanks? The sacrifice of this man was implied rather than felt -- and why bother with subtlety in a story like this?

B-