The 5th Quarter (2010)

Waste of Money.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The fact that they made a Christian movie about him is really quite strange. If you want to see a movie closer to the main character, watch Bill Paxton in the classic Weird Science. That being said, I have not seen the actual movie. My old high school friend just recently told me that they actually made a Christian movie about this guy, and I had to see it to believe it.

You can go the breathless, creepy-weepie route. Or you can go the determined, stiff-upper-lip route. The 5th Quarter chose creepy-weepie, and as always, it really doesn't work very well. I don't have a problem with faith-based content, but that shouldn't prevent it from being well-written, well-acted and well-produced. The 5th Quarter, sadly, is not. The characters are very one-dimensional. The film should have explored the personal effect the tragedy forced upon them and how they dealt with that. It's all well and good to portray people turning to their faith in times of great stress. However, The 5th Quarter shows characters turning to faith and expecting it to do the work. We need to see how faith was the inspiration and one's resources were the effort. The writing was uninspired -- many, many clichés. As always in low budget productions, much of the talent was picked up locally, and it shows. Lines were often delivered without any credibility; the actors' inexperience was obvious. Production values were very erratic - sometimes quite good, other times amateurish. (The use of stock footage was particularly jarring - roughly edited and badly printed. It often looked like a bad 60s kinescope, and perhaps it was.) The acting in general was not remarkable. Both Aiden Quinn and Andie McDowell are capable of excellent work; not here. Quinn chewed up the scenery. (He tends to do that in highly emotional roles; the director should have reined him in. Of course, the director may have actually liked it.) Andie McDowell could have phoned it in. Ryan Merriman - still very underrated and underused, as is often the fate of talented child actors who grow up - did quite well making some impossible lines and set-ups sound believable. All in all, this film could have been first rate. The story, the principal cast, the values - they had all the elements of an exciting, inspiring film. But it fell prey to the problem with so many faith-based films - the story was sacrificed to make sure we got the message. As a result, neither succeeded all that well.

and it gets worse. Who really wants their son to go get his brain bashed because their other football hero son died in a car wreck? Who would pressure a son like that? Only uncaring un-Christian parents, that's who, parents who idolize one boy and drive the other to be a replacement son. Awful awful awful. All the sobbing and totally stupid reactions of the parents are almost beyond belief. AS my husband asked me, "do real families act and talk this way?" I suppose some do. More's the pity.Of course, the movie follows Jon's meteoric change from slacker to super football hero based on just will power and I suppose divine guidance (why do so many people think Divinity adores football and rewards its football players?)

Years ago, there use to be a dramatic Christian TV show called 'Faith for today', having seen it makes me think that these kinds of new movies are a bit of a modern version of that genre, dramatic Christian programming while at the same time, I have to say, it is not 'overtly' Christian in it's message vs. in comparison say 'Facing the Giants' but only in that Wake Forest is a Christian University, the "Deacs", Demon Deacons. Also in one scene in the Abbate household, I believe one might see a cross on the wall but even that seems a bit unfocused in the background and then, there is a short part in the Church but no "Bible Thumping" by any means.One should not be expecting a Hollywood production. You have to think outside the box. The movie has a message and in the end is moving and does recount that story well. The football action is fairly well done when it shows games. I give it 6 stars as being on the plus side of average. For a "football movie", I'd rate it as about 7 stars actually, interesting when you think of Wake Forest as I do as mainly a basketball power which they are vs. football. It may not be 'Brian's song' or 'The Knute Rockne story' but it might be slightly reminiscent of the feel of those movies and I would think of it as being more along the lines of 'We are Marshall.' It's definitely worth a try. Yeah and parts of it do make me a bit teary eyed. Also, from a sports angle, the parts with South African trainer Steve Uria are good, it makes me think of some of the real exercise parts of the movie 'Hoosiers.' Honestly, if you are into sports, the exercise portions may be something you want to try for yourself. Wake Forest is more famous for it's basketball teams, even at the football game, I saw some of the student supporters jumping up and down which is something I tend to see all the time watching basketball games of some Universities like, I've got to say it, Duke University. So, in the final analysis, I think there is quite a bit to this movie and it is worth watching.