Despite a strong performance from Ed Harris, the film starring Cuba Gooding Jr. fails to enhance the overcoming-ignoranc-through-high-school-football genre.
By JJ Bowman
Associate Editor
Director Michael Tollin’s “Radio” attempts to do for the integration of the mentally handicapped what “Remember the Titans” did for the integration of African Americans. Unfortunately, after watching the film it’s impossible to ignore how short “Radio” falls of its predecessor.
The film (inspired by a story that ran in Sports Illustrated) stars Cuba Gooding Jr. as Radio, the victim of an unknown mental disorder that at first looks like severe autism and later resembles Downs Syndrome, the disability Corky had on “Life Goes On.”
Ed Harris plays Harold Jones, a small-town high school football coach in Hanna, N.C. When a group of his players tortures the vulnerable young man, the coach decides to use Radio as a team manager.
Radio wins the hearts of the students quickly during a musical montage, but as is the case with all people labeled “different,” some townsfolk see harm in allowing the dissolution between Radio’s kind and those fit for public high school. (Apparently, there is a difference). After appearing on the football sidelines, Radio enters the classrooms and even announces the day’s lunch over the school’s P.A. system.
Jones becomes a crusader for tolerance, going so overboard as to assert that there is more to life than just football, a point tantamount to blasphemy in Small Town, USA. (Were this film set in Texas, the high school football coach would surely have received public flogging).
Despite others’ insecurities, Jones perseveres and first reconciles with his overlooked daughter, thanks to the lessons of Radio, and later confronts the townspeople in the local barbershop (apparently the town hall for Hanna’s townsfolk). There he reaches the inevitable conclusion that although he thought the school had been teaching Radio, “Radio’s been the one teaching us.” Cue the “Full House” inspirational music, please.
Although a high degree of sappiness can be forgiven in such a film as “Radio,” no scene manages to strike any profound emotional impact. The abuse dealt to Radio is milder than many other “different” people experience in high school, leading one to wonder why Radio deserves any more sympathy than any other Screech Powers locked in a shed or tricked into walking into the girl’s locker room.
Furthermore, the opposition to Radio’s place at the high school lacks any conviction. Instead, a geeky school board member and the father of the school’s top athlete contend to spew cliches about different people being dangerous.
Cuba Gooding Jr. manages a few stellar scenes, but as the film progresses, he too often resorts to the over-the-top style that made him famous in “Jerry Maguire.” His performance as Radio should remove the residue left over by “Boat Trip,” but it falls short from doing anything more.
Harris easily manages the best performance of the film as he seamlessly shifts from the stoic father figure to the passionate advocate. Although he barely manages to convey the intensity required of a Southern high school football coach, he nevertheless speaks as a man improved by recognizing the humanness in one individual. He does this even with a climactic speech that had been done hundreds of times before.
Nevertheless, after watching “Radio,” it will be impossible not to remember the Titans.
November 06, 2003
