Michael Chiklis scores some nice touchdowns.
This week, we have two football movies: the surreal horror movie “Him” with Marlon Wayans as a quarterback legend mentoring a young player with dark results, and the faith-based drama “The Senior” with Michael Chiklis as Mike Flynt, a 59-year-old family man, who returns to his ala mater as a football player.
For now, I’d like to talk about “The Senior,” which isn’t perfect, but has its moments of clarity and courage. This is Chiklis’ first movie since “Don’t Look Up,” which wasn’t that good of a movie. This one is a good movie that allows him to ease with the real football player.
The story, which takes place in 2007, shows that Mike would have been a football star if he didn’t get himself in the fight that got him expelled from Sul Ross State University. Years later, he’s given a second chance to finish his scholarship, even rejoining the football team. His new coach Sam Weston (Rob Corddry) isn’t all that thrilled and his much younger teammates might see him as an old man and he does have his misses, but Mike proves that he’s ageless on the field.
His wife Eileen (Mary Stuart Masterson) wants him to let go of his past, while his son Micah (Brandon Flynn) wanted him to be less of a coach and more of a father. Even the old man wanted his dead father (James Badge Dale) to be a better father, too. These scenes are underdeveloped, but they do resonate with reality. At this point, we’re more interested in how Mike must let go of his demons and get his energy back on the field.
“The Senior” was directed by Rod Lurie, who used to be a film critic for such publications as New York Daily News, Los Angles, and Movieline, among others, and his directing credits include “The Contender” and “The Outpost.” The screenplay by Robert Eisele (“The Great Debaters,” “Hurricane Season”) is corny with all the cliches of a comeback sports movie. There’s the estranged son, the small argument with the wife and how she tries to talk some sense into him, and how cynicism threatens to break his spirit on the field.
But the spirit of the movie and Chiklis’ performance as Mike keeps us watching. He’s the one with the convictions and emotions to merge with the qualities and difficulties the player had. I’ve never heard of Mike Flynt before I saw this movie, and I’m not a football expert. But I do like football movies as long as they know the sport and players. “The Senior” knows this player and wants to speak for him about his past and present.
One of the high spirits of the movie is how Mike plays his training to the tune of The Spinners’ “Rubberband Man,” which is also played during the end credits with the real Mike Flynt. And there’s even a good sense of sass when a young player tells Mike he enjoyed the Adam Sandler “Longest Yard,” while the old timer suggests he sees the original with Burt Reynolds. And we all know both movie versions had that legendary actor.
I watched “The Senior” the other night, and I acknowledge that it would take a man of great health to play the sport at his age. But it would also take faith and courage to fight his demons. He can’t let go of the punch that cost him nearly everything, and his family wants him to. We all want him to. That probably sounds corny the way I’m explaining it, but it’s true.
And it might sound corny when a young football player is told by his mother to call Mike “Mr. Flynt.” But for some reason, I think it’s a nice touchdown. Pun intended.
