The Winning Season

THE WINNING SEASON (2009) - July 7, 2011
A really enjoyable film about a down-on-his-luck coach who's asked to coach a high school girls' basketball team.  Features an expectedly excellent performance from Sam Rockwell (seriously, you just cannot go wrong with Sam Rockwell) and some strong supporting performances.  James C. Strouse's writing and direction is also quite solid -- there's nothing here we haven't seen quite a few times before, and some of the emotional beats feel a bit forced, but it's just a really entertaining and well put-together film.  I like how the emphasis is really more on the characters than the games; there's really not all that much at stake as far as winning the games go.  The film is more concerned with the characters and their relationships, which I definitely appreciated (there's only so many times you can watch a bunch of underdogs work their way up to a big game -- which is what this was about on a surface level, but not really -- before you get sick of it).  ***