My All American

"You don't have to like sports to have a crush on Freddie" Joe Steinmark. "You just need a pulse." He's the most popular jock in his small Colorado high school, he's sweet, he goes to Mass every day and "he's by far the cutest boy you will ever see."

From the writer and director of "Hoosiers" and "Rudy," Angelo Pizzo, "My All American" is idealism embodied, a tribute to the squeaky clean America of 1960s that never really existed, but sure seems nice in this inspirational, based-on-a-true-story film.

Freddie (Finn Wittrock) is indeed a standout football player, despite the fact that he's only 5' 9" and 155 lbs. The game is so much a part of his life that it takes some time before he asks the lovely new transfer student Linda Wheeler (Sarah Bolger) out on a date. Luckily, the girl has the good taste and the libido to spy on him working out with his shirt off, and from then on they are practically inseparable, if still completely chaste.

Recruited by Darrell Royal (Aaron Eckhart) at the University of Texas, Freddie goes on to become an All-Southwest Conference safety for the Longhorns in 1969, starting his sophomore year, which was unheard of at Texas.

Freddie faces current events the same way he faces the rest of life, choosing to pray instead of protest the Vietnam War. He is also enthusiastic about the arrival of Richard Nixon when the President flies onto the football field during the celebrated "Game of the Century," the December 6, 1969 showdown between the University of Texas Longhorns and the University of Arkansas Razorbacks.

So it's only fitting that faith, family and football will rescue Freddie when a more personal adversity challenges him.

If you remember the dark, gritty Aaron Eckhart from "In the Company of Men," (the man who wore white privilege with irony and embraced human cruelty as though he were picking up pears at the market) you won't find anything like that actor in this movie. The headliner for this football film is blue-eyed, square-jawed and static, with lines like, "Gentleman, football doesn't build character; it eliminates the weak ones. We're about to weed out the weak." There's nothing layered or complex about this Eckhart performance. He's John Wayne without the "Grit."

Throughout his career Eckhart has made some pretty interesting satiric independent films, so his presence in "My All-American" only points out the movie's complete lack of irony. Anyone with a sense of history will roll her eyes at the way this movie encourages a culture of Candide's. But if you consume tearjerkers the way some people watch slasher films, the bold-faced naivety of "My All-American" hits the mark.

This Blu-ray Combo Pack includes two short 2-and-a-half-minute making-of features, with interviews of some of the real life characters as well as the actors and director.

"My All-American"
Blu-ray Combo Pack
$22.99
uni.pictures/MyAllAmerican