Movies
“4 Minute Mile” Is Made For A Very Small Crowd. I Am One Of Those Few.
Sometimes you just gotta do a movie for yourself. This is one of those times.
“A former track coach decides to train a student with natural athletic talent. Tragedy strikes, forcing the student to confront everything that has been holding him back.“
Director: Charles-Olivier Michaud
Writers: Jeff Van Wie, Josh Campbell
Staring: Kelly Blatz, Richard Jenkins, Kim Basinger, Cam Gigandet, Lio Topton
Release Date: August 1, 2014
IMDB
Sometimes you just gotta do a movie for yourself. This is one of those times.
4 Minute Mile (2014) is a niche drama about a topic the majority of people hate: running. Drew Jacobs (Kelly Blatz) is a talented but hot-headed high school track star. His family life is less than ideal. Drew’s older brother Wes (Cam Gigandet) runs drugs and is a less than ideal influence, but the sway he has over his mother Claire (Kim Basinger) puts everyone on edge.
After Drew gets in a heated argument with the high school coach and quits the team. The young man is lost, but he has a couple of friends who are willing to help him get back on track. Lisa Rickard (Lio Tipton) and Drew are a classic high school romance and she helps him not feel alone. The biggest advisor to Drew is the ex-track coach Coleman (Richard Jenkins). The man is an old-school coach who doesn’t feel a need to give a reason for everything. Drew hops in his truck and takes Coleman’s and racing advice to heart. Well most of the time.
4 Minute Mile is a classic, tried-and-true sports movie that hits all of the tropes you would imagine. The rebellious talent with a life no one knows about. The girl who just wants to be there for him, and the coach that pushes our runner to the limits he didn’t know he could reach.
The thing that makes this sports movie different from the majority is that there isn’t an opposing team Drew is going up against. There isn’t a different colored jersey that he needs to measure up against. He thinks that is what it’s all about, but Coleman tries to instill in the young galloper that running is about beating yourself.
Let’s be frank, no one has heard of this movie before and I doubt many people are going to type in 4 Minute Mile to Peacock. I am going to go into spoilers.
The ending of 4 Minute Mile got to me. Yes, it is egregiously cheesy and over-the-top sentimental. But this movie is essentially a giant soap opera so it makes sense to have it end like this. The story ends with Drew racing himself on the pier where coach Coleman trained him. With Coleman dead (perhaps I should have mentioned this earlier but we will get there), Drew is racing for the memory of his coach and to prove something to himself. He wants to run that sub four minute mile.
There are some things that people who don’t run don’t get. One of those emotions non-sneaker destroying people never experience is the elation of setting a personal best and pushing yourself to the up-teenth degree. The satisfaction in exhaustion. The wry smile that comes across your face when your legs are rubber and your mind is like melting jello. Pushing yourself to that extreme is arguably unsafe, but it’s knowing that you can push yourself to the edge that is so gratifying.
Does that sound insane? That might sound insane.
The tagline for 4 Minute Mile is “The Hardest Race Is Against Yourself.” I tend to believe that is incredibly true. When one is someone’s own harshest critic, then your greatest enemy becomes yourself. Running, especially competitive running, is a very lonely sport. All you have to pass the time is your thoughts. You are constantly talking to yourself. It’s nonstop. Sometimes that isn’t a good thing, and that is where a friend or coach becomes important.
Richard Jenkins seems like perfect casting for coach Coleman. The man has a face of wisdom and 4 Minute Mile takes that visage, uglies it up a little with some crudeness, and lets the two-time Oscar nominee cook. Jenkins can probably do a role like this in his sleep, and that is not an indictment. The best moments of the movie are with Coleman on the screen, or directly influenced by what his character teaches Drew. Jenkins makes those lessons convincing, so much so, even a stubborn high schooler can take notice.
I have to say, I had no idea that Coleman was going to die. It was shocking. The story foreshadows that the grumpy neighbor was going to step in when Wes’s drug problem gets dangerously public, but never did I think a gunshot in the street would do him in. Coleman’s passing forces Drew to confront aspects of his life he was always scared to acknowledge. He can’t run away from the reality that suddenly snaps into focus, but he can use running to cope with the emotions. Hell, I know I do the same thing.
The best lesson from 4 Minute Mile is the concept of patience and running. You want to go fast. You want to go as fast as you can all the time. The reality is that you can’t do that. You will burn yourself out. You have to learn to pace yourself. Yes, I am telling myself this.
Doing a quick skimming of my own writing, I am making 4 Minute Mile seem like an Oscar winner. It is not that good. Hell, to a non-runner, this movie probably stinks. There is not a lot of originality with the story, and the storyline of Drew’s family is all a tad cringe and dramatically over-the-top. Hence the soap opera comment I made earlier. The fights in the home have the stench of over-acting and less than stellar writing, but they are necessary to provide context for what Drew is working through.
4 Minute Mile is a movie made on a small budget made for a small audience. It was not made for a theater experience, and many people have no idea it is streaming now. This is a passion project made by director Charles-Olivier Michaud and penned by writers Jeff Van Wie and Josh Campbell. 4 Minute Mile fits my foot, but it is not for everyone. I’ll keep it in the back of my mind for my fellow weirdos, but otherwise it’ll sit in my dusty memory banks.
STANKO RATING: C
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