I thought I was prepared for "Radio." I knew what it was going to do: I knew it would follow the cheesy, feel-good movie formula. I told myself that before I saw the film, and it worked to a certain degree. I was able to discern the grossly cheesy moments of the film even while I was watching it. So why did I leave the theater with tears in my eyes and kicking myself for falling victim to yet another feel-gooder?
"Radio" tells the true-life story of Harold Jones (Ed Harris), teacher and football coach at T.L. Hanna High School in South Carolina, and his friendship with James Robert "Radio" Kennedy (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), a mentally retarded man. Radio is famous in his small South Carolina town for being the silent man who pushes his grocery cart up and down the streets. Every afternoon, he stops by Coach Jones's football practice and pauses to watch.
One afternoon, after he takes a football and puts it in his cart, some of the boys on the team decide to teach him a lesson. They tie him up, lock him in the athletic shed and throw footballs at it. By the time Coach Jones is able to untie him, Radio is quaking in terror. Note: If you don't have tears in your eyes at this point, I question your humanity. Gooding's performance of terror is so convincing and saddening that you would have to be quite cold not to be horrified.
In order to make up for this cruel act, Coach Jones invites Radio to help out with the football team on a regular basis. Most of the team quickly takes to him, and he soon becomes an institution and inspiration. Coach Jones watches the frightened young man who would never speak to anyone come out of his shell and blossom into a talkative, loving person.
Unfortunately, it is not smooth sailing for Radio. There are, of course, team members and parents who do not enjoy his presence on the sidelines of football games or in the hallways of the school. Coach Jones and Radio must fight these forces and prove to everyone that he belongs at T.L. Hanna.
Of course, there must be a side plot.This comes into play when we see the way Coach Jones treats his family -- his wife Linda (Debra Winger) and daughter Mary Helen (U.Va alumna Sarah Drew -- known previously only as a voice on the cartoon "Daria"). Jones loves his family dearly, but football and Radio consume his life. He has no time to spend with the two women in his life.
As you can imagine, this movie has its moments of extreme cheesiness. In particular, the recurring barbershop scenes where the townsmen meet to discuss the high school football team will make you laugh. The dialogue in these scenes seems a little forced and trite.
Apart from these scenes, the acting in the movie is excellent. Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays a character who will make you laugh and cry. His body language, his voice, and his appearance are all very convincing. Gooding has proven his acting skills in former roles, but it was wonderful to see him in a role that was not full of physical brawn or good-looks.
Ed Harris is in his element as a tough Southern football coach. His character displays a balance between being a strict teacher and coach and having a huge soft spot for those he loves, Radio in particular. You will be moved by the way his character displays his affection for Radio and fights diligently for him.
The rest of the acting in the film is hardly worth mentioning. I have never been a huge Debra Winger fan and this movie did nothing to change that opinion. S. Epatha Merkerson ("Law and Order") does a fine job as Radio's mother, quite a change from her tough-cop "Law and Order" role. The rest of the cast is mostly townspeople and football players.
So, again, why did I fall victim to this movie? Maybe because I went to a Southern high school where Friday night football was everything to the small town and I got a little nostalgic. Maybe because the two stars of the film did such a good job. Maybe because at the closing credits, shots of the real-life Coach Jones and Radio are played. Or maybe, and most likely, I am just a sap who regularly buys in to the feel-good movie formula. This one did the job pretty well.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
