12/30/2021
American Underdog is now in theaters. It’s the personal story of Kurt Warner, from an Iowa HyVee store to NFL MVP. Enjoy this movie review from my radio buddy Shawn Balint.
What did I expect? It’s a sports movie. I always tame my expectations. The origins of the Kurt Warner story are certainly relatable beyond sports. It could be fiction's Luke Skywalker looking at the two Suns of Tatooine, feeling marooned and separated from his dreams, with John Williams’ scores telling the story beautifully, or real life underdogs who defied the odds and escaped the shadows. Many such stories revolve around one person believing in them, or being in the right place at the right time. Kurt Warner's story was a long and winding road of detours and dead ends.
He comes out of Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with great potential, but he didn't get the D1 offers he likely deserved. He didn't break the starting lineup for Northern Iowa until he was a fifth year senior. He made UNI look foolish for leaving him in mothballs as he landed Gateway Conference Player of the Year honors. In the movie, it shows Kurt as someone who needs to buy in to the team concept. Then things take off, and certainly there's a great story there. This is not the movie Blind Side. This story seems to stay very true to the events of Kurt's career. You'll notice a fast-forward button that makes it look like he played one year of Arena ball, his Packers tryout was a 48-hour event, and his rookie year in the NFL was 1999, but it's something you can live with. I'm still surprised a spider bite scuttling his Bears tryout wasn't included. I wish the UNI Dome would have been featured, but I get it, you have to have some cost containment to pull this off.
You've heard the story a thousand times about Kurt and Brenda struggling and the HyVee gig stocking shelves, but to be taken there in a time machine to Kurt's humbling days, as an emerging family fights to hold on, is special. Zach Levi does a pretty darn good job at the age of 41 of capturing the twenty-something dreamer. I never said hey, he can't play a college student. There's just a youthful vigor about him. He's one of those guys where you don't say “hey, there's a great actor.” He just has the feel for not overacting and letting the story tell itself. There is a sincerity to the decency he brings. He portrays the swagger, the humility, and the frustration beautifully. I've liked Anna Paquin's work for as long as I can remember. It was hard to see Rogue or her Trueblood character. She was invested in playing Brenda, and I thought there was great screen chemistry, and the romantic tale didn't feel like the same ol’ same ol’.
Let's move to the Rams portion of the story, or like the Redskin thing, we’ll just call the name of the organization offensive, and we’ll call it the St. Louis Football Team Sequence. When I saw the trailers, I was fearful Mike Martz would be portrayed as an arch villain. The guy playing Martz is pretty over the top, but Kurt knows what it was like behind closed doors, I don't. There was a satisfying ending on that front. Dennis Quaid as Dick Vermeil. Outstanding. What a nice pickup. As I mentioned, this screenplay was on fast-forward. Kurt's 1998 season didn't exist on film. We see this very much from Kurt's view, but I think they could have flushed out the worst-to-first story a little more and show how fans like me didn't think Kurt Warner was the solution after Trent Green went down. The skepticism was thick, and all we had to go on was an unfair set of stats, 4 of 11 in '98. It's unfair to judge a guy on stats from garbage time, when he doesn't get to work with the first or second team in practice.
This isn't like a Rocky movie with a montage of the Rams remarkable season, starting 6-0, exorcising the 49ers demons in week 4. You won't see The Catch with Ricky Proehl or the post pattern to Isaac Bruce to open the playoff win over the Vikings. 95% of the story is devoted to the opening win vs. the Ravens. I was there. It was something to see. Boy, that does cause a rush of emotion to see the Dome in its glory. The years of bad football make it hard to believe what used to unfold under the Big Top at Convention and Broadway on the Sabbath. You don't really get a sense of the score, just Kurt proving himself, mainly to himself.
It's very much the Kurt and Brenda story. Selfishly, I wanted more of the GSOT (Greatest Show On Turf) experience, more interaction between Kurt and Vermeil. They jump to a quick climax with the Super Bowl. Again, it's Kurt and Brenda driven. You're not going to see The Tackle, or the nervousness tied to Titans’ QB Steve McNair catching fire in the second half and battling through the game with a broken body. I would have loved a more flushed out football story, but I have no complaints. That's movies. The universe implodes, but we only see if the family dog survives. It works. You don't find yourself feeling cheated, and if the Greatest Show on Turf doesn't have great meaning to you, you'll have no complaints at all.
I thought they did a great job moving from the actors to stock footage of the players. Bruce McGill was a great find in this movie. You’ve seen him in a million places like Rizzoli & Isles. Well, his work as the Iowa Barnstormers’ owner makes the Arena League sequences very enjoyable. The man just has presence.
Let's talk about the faith-based movie aspect. Some people are leery that it will be all faith-based. I think this movie finds a balance. Much like Kurt went from THANK YOU, JESSSSUSSSS at the Georgia Dome podium to a more practical, conversational approach to spread his faith, the film has obvious moments of faith discussion, but it often simply leads by example.
While much of this movie is about Kurt and Brenda and football, I love the Kurt and Zach story. It's the most beautiful thing about this movie. Zachary is Brenda's son who was visually impaired and developmentally disabled after her first husband accidentally dropped him in the bathtub as an infant. When I worked at KTRS-AM550, Kurt had a show there, and one time, Zach came into the studio. They needed someone to watch him load up VCR tapes in the conference room, etc. Well, all I needed to be was security. This kid just felt like he had no limitations, and he went through the challenges he faced like he was punching a time clock. He did not make a big fuss about himself. That was portrayed perfectly in this movie by young Hayden Zaller, who is blind in real life. Levi was sensational in his work with this kid, and the kid was exceptional as well. I think you look at a guy like Kurt Warner and you have to say he was a father before he ever had a kid or adopted Zach. That's portrayed so well in this movie.
Kurt is like a real life Rocky Balboa, except he didn't have an Apollo Creed open the door for him. He opened his own doors, and he sure didn't have an eventual entourage when he trained. His time of throwing footballs all alone to backyard targets to stay sharp speaks volumes.
It was such a special place and time. I know in 1999, I beat the odds in my mind when I made it to St. Louis radio, working with people I grew up listening to. I was riddled with doubt though. I had poisonous people really tear me down before landing there. The Rams ride to the Super Bowl really helped lift me out of a time of despair. It's hard sometimes to enjoy the moment in sports because not much compares to the Greatest Show on Turf. The moments are so fleeting, that period seemed to soar and vanish like a shooting star. I hate it that those guys don't have a local Ring of Honor to be added to anymore. That was a moment I looked forward to with all of those awful years of post-GSOT football. Kurt's name being added to the ring, along with Orlando and Isaac, and hopefully Big Game Torry Holt down the road. But you know life it isn't fair. I have to say, I got mad all over again by what was taken from us.
I’ve seen the movie twice, and clearly people were moved, whether they were a football fan or were with a football fan. It was a great movie for this time we're going through. I've interviewed Kurt four or five times, mostly during the GSOT heyday, including during my brief time with the Rams Radio Network. It's great to see a tale of nice guys finishing first.
