Unlike other popular sports like football, basketball, and baseball, to me, horseracing isn't that enjoyable unless "x" amount of money is on the line. Think about it: your average trip to the racetrack, as a viewer, not a gambler, is a potluck assembly of horses and jockeys, most of which you've probably never heard of, you indulge in a beer or two, you people watch a bit, everyone from the derelicts to the clean-cut middle class families taking a walk on the wild side for the day, watch a few races, and then leave home with a slightly emptier wallet because of what you had to drink. With football or basketball, you at least have the player/team loyalty at hand, there's constant excitement, there's far less dead-air, and one can enjoy the experience and anticipate an outcome without having money on the line.
I mention this because 50 to 1 seems to adhere to that same principle of horseracing only being exciting when there's something on the line. Otherwise, you're simply watching others winning, losing, or obtaining large debts. This particular film concerns a group of New Mexico cowboys, who purchase an undersized thoroughbred racehorse for about $400,000 in order to have a shot at the 2009 Kentucky Derby. The horse, named "Mine That Bird," is an unpredictable breed and the odds, physically and in terms of performance, are stacked against it. One of the ringleaders in acquiring the horse is Chip Woolley (Skeet Ulrich), a crabby, domineering man who spends most of the film limping on crutches and scolding his assistant Alex (Madelyn Deutch). Another cowboy is Mark Allen (country singer Christian Kane, who even has a song or two of his in the film), who helps Chip to get the horse to the Derby, despite the astronomical 50 to 1 odds of the thoroughbred winning.
50 to 1 is the kind of film that thrives on faith and optimism without the need of incessantly showing it, which is one of its few perks. Common with these faith-based films (a category in which 50 to 1 does indeed belong to, though not as explicitly as others) is the need to affirm such devout beliefs with every scene and thank the lord almighty with every breath the characters take. The film may not be that preachy, but it sure does a good job of lacking the character development and human interest many of its contemporaries also struggle with. Nobody in 50 to 1 is a character, not even Ulrich, who, again, resorts to being a mercifully cranky individual with little personality.
The film also seems to be on autopilot most of the time, casually gliding at a leisurely pace, making use of its one-hundred and forty-four minute runtime through the act of hanging out more than actually seizing a moment. It reminds me a lot of Richard Linklater's The Newton Boys (also starring Ulrich, though in a supporting role), where a great story is squandered by an approach. Admittedly, horseracing is an eclectic subject, but the "odds are against us" sporting movie ranks as one of the oldest clichés in the book, so an unconventional topic combined with a cliché approach puts this film at a disadvantage right off the bat.
Ultimately, 50 to 1 is a film of conversations that are one of three things: either they are entirely uninteresting, draped in lackluster quips and eye-rolling humor, mean-spirited, verbal assaults from one of the characters to another, or dialog rooted in the principles of clichés and setting up a rags to riches story. With that, the film winds up being more of a flabby stageplay, tiresomely trekking territory we've already hit before and not giving audiences much in the way to sympathize with or care about.
Finally, the MPAA granted 50 to 1 a PG-13 rating, for suggestive material and "a bar brawl;" you know a film is bad enough when a bar brawl exists in it and it's still given a poor rating.
Starring: Skeet Ulrich, Christian Kane, Madelyn Deutch, and William Devane. Directed by: Jim Wilson.
I mention this because 50 to 1 seems to adhere to that same principle of horseracing only being exciting when there's something on the line. Otherwise, you're simply watching others winning, losing, or obtaining large debts. This particular film concerns a group of New Mexico cowboys, who purchase an undersized thoroughbred racehorse for about $400,000 in order to have a shot at the 2009 Kentucky Derby. The horse, named "Mine That Bird," is an unpredictable breed and the odds, physically and in terms of performance, are stacked against it. One of the ringleaders in acquiring the horse is Chip Woolley (Skeet Ulrich), a crabby, domineering man who spends most of the film limping on crutches and scolding his assistant Alex (Madelyn Deutch). Another cowboy is Mark Allen (country singer Christian Kane, who even has a song or two of his in the film), who helps Chip to get the horse to the Derby, despite the astronomical 50 to 1 odds of the thoroughbred winning.
50 to 1 is the kind of film that thrives on faith and optimism without the need of incessantly showing it, which is one of its few perks. Common with these faith-based films (a category in which 50 to 1 does indeed belong to, though not as explicitly as others) is the need to affirm such devout beliefs with every scene and thank the lord almighty with every breath the characters take. The film may not be that preachy, but it sure does a good job of lacking the character development and human interest many of its contemporaries also struggle with. Nobody in 50 to 1 is a character, not even Ulrich, who, again, resorts to being a mercifully cranky individual with little personality.
The film also seems to be on autopilot most of the time, casually gliding at a leisurely pace, making use of its one-hundred and forty-four minute runtime through the act of hanging out more than actually seizing a moment. It reminds me a lot of Richard Linklater's The Newton Boys (also starring Ulrich, though in a supporting role), where a great story is squandered by an approach. Admittedly, horseracing is an eclectic subject, but the "odds are against us" sporting movie ranks as one of the oldest clichés in the book, so an unconventional topic combined with a cliché approach puts this film at a disadvantage right off the bat.
Ultimately, 50 to 1 is a film of conversations that are one of three things: either they are entirely uninteresting, draped in lackluster quips and eye-rolling humor, mean-spirited, verbal assaults from one of the characters to another, or dialog rooted in the principles of clichés and setting up a rags to riches story. With that, the film winds up being more of a flabby stageplay, tiresomely trekking territory we've already hit before and not giving audiences much in the way to sympathize with or care about.
Finally, the MPAA granted 50 to 1 a PG-13 rating, for suggestive material and "a bar brawl;" you know a film is bad enough when a bar brawl exists in it and it's still given a poor rating.
Starring: Skeet Ulrich, Christian Kane, Madelyn Deutch, and William Devane. Directed by: Jim Wilson.