Out of Play – Der Weg zurück (2020)

Out of Play – Der Weg zurück: Directed by Gavin O’Connor. With Ben Affleck, Al Madrigal, Janina Gavankar, Michaela Watkins. Jack Cunningham was a high school basketball phenom who walked away from the game, forfeiting his future. Years later, when he reluctantly accepts a coaching job at his alma mater, he may get one last shot at redemption.

“IN A NUTSHELL:nWarner Brothers presents a compelling story of overcoming oneu0026#39;s worst self on the road to redemption. Itu0026#39;s painful to watch since ¾ of the movie display a manu0026#39;s self-destructive behaviors over and over and over again. That man is portrayed in an outstanding, melancholy performance by Ben Affleck who reflects his own personal struggle with alcoholism in real life. Itu0026#39;s one of Afflecku0026#39;s best and most honest performances to date. Heu0026#39;s extremely believable as a blue-collar worker and Everyday Man. Whatu0026#39;s especially poignant is that he has recently admitted that his last trip to rehab was just a couple of years ago and that every day is still a battle. The movie is not the typical underdog story, but offers a more mature, realistic look at life. If you hate watching people implode by their terrible choices, this movie is going to be frustrating for you to watch. I wouldnu0026#39;t call it entertaining. I would call it insightful and poignant.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTIPS FOR PARENTS:nLots of profanity. In fact, profanity is a running joke in the movie. Ben Afflecku0026#39;s character has a serious potty-mouth, which is a big problem for a guy coaching basketball at a religious school. He promises heu0026#39;ll work on it, but the F-bombs and other crude language continue to fly from the beginning to end of the movie.nLots of bad behavior, such as dishonesty and self-indulgence.nLOTS of destructive behavior such as alcohol drinking, drunk driving, infidelity, and pill-popping.nYou see sick kids in a hospital with discussions of death.nA man goes to rehab.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTHEMES:nRedemptionnu0026quot;Just do all the little things right.u0026quot; – Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck)nRespectnFamilynHopenGriefnAddictionnChoices, consequences, and accountabilitynIn the team practice after each basketball game, Coach Jack would ask the players, u0026quot;What did we learn about ourselves last night?u0026quot; What a great question and exercise.nu0026quot;We canu0026#39;t change the past, Jack. What we can do is choose how we move forward.u0026quot; – Therapistu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTHINGS I LIKED:nThe entire cast is solid and believable.nLots of humor to balance out the many dramatic scenes.nThere is something about the way the story is told that evokes verbal engagement from the audience. Thatu0026#39;s a nice way of saying that there were a ton of people in the audience where I watched the press screening who kept talking to Ben Affleck during the movie. My husband was annoyed, but my friend and I were extremely entertained listening to comments like, u0026quot;No! Donu0026#39;t do it!u0026quot;, u0026quot;Try harder!u0026quot;, u0026quot;Stop!u0026quot; ha hanAct 1 is slow and painful to watch as we go to the bar with Ben Afflecku0026#39;s character night after night. Act 2 offers more of the exhausting same. Then, in Act 3, we finally get to see the cliched sports movie give us the triumphant scenes we want to see. But wait, there is an Act 4 that catches us off guard. Thatu0026#39;s where the heft of the movie takes an unexpected turn and provides meaty insights.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTHINGS I DIDNu0026#39;T LIKE:nThere is a lot of basketball talk, as you can imagine, so if youu0026#39;re not into basketball, you might get a little tired of all that. Itu0026#39;s a sports movie, so you can still understand the ups and downs of team drama.nIu0026#39;m assuming Cutteru0026#39;s beer paid dearly for the product endorsement, since you see a LOT of scenes with Ben Affleck guzzling it.nThereu0026#39;s an exposition scene where one of the characters has to explain how high the stakes are so we care.nI started to get the feels, but I never actually broke down and cried. I felt like the emotional pull could have squeezed even harder.nA few times the camera moved around so fast that I actually got dizzy and had to look away from the screen.nWhile itu0026#39;s somewhat cliched and predictable for a feel-good sports movie, itu0026#39;s missing the obligatory training sequence in a musical montage. ha hanThe movie really focuses on Ben Afflecku0026#39;s character, so we donu0026#39;t get to learn a lot about the players on the basketball. A few of them have identifiable characteristics but the movie just doesnu0026#39;t dive deep into them.nThe friend of mine who watched the movie with me said he would have walked out during the first Act because he just canu0026#39;t stand watching people drink themselves to death on screen. He was glad he stayed until the end but he said the powerful message at the end wasnu0026#39;t worth having to sit through all of the tragic self-destruction in the majority of the film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eYou can read the rest of my movie review on Movie Review Mom (dot) com or on my Movie Review Mom YouTube channel.”