Physical appearance relegates some performers to the role of character actors, even if they seem to have the talent for leading parts.
Sean Astin has been that guy for a while. Despite the occasional youthful lead (in the sport flick “Rudy,” for instance), Astin’s short stature and stocky build have made him a reliable, sometimes inspired, supporting guy. He got rave reviews for his ultimate-sidekick role in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, for instance.
In “The Final Season,” Astin gets to play a rare lead. And his understated approach and warm-hearted delivery make you wish he got more chances like this.
The film itself? Take the sports-movie blueprint and put it through the Xerox machine, and you’ve got “The Final Season.”
It’s based on fact: the setting is small-town Iowa, where a high-school powerhouse, Norway High, is told they will be absorbed by a larger school district.
That’s the end of their proud baseball tradition and 19 state titles. Of course, there will be one final season.
Ah, but Norway loses its legendary coach (Powers Boothe) after he gets eased out by school board politics. It will fall to his likable but underwhelming assistant coach to steer the team back to glory.
Guess who plays that role? Astin has a wonderful lack of vanity in this part: Dressed in a baseball uniform, he lets his gut hang out like Lou Piniella, and he willingly forfeits the charisma to Boothe.
There’s a bit of conventional (and unbelievable) love interest for Astin’s character, a school board attorney played by Rachael Leigh Cook. The movie is propped up with a sideplot about a troubled Chicago kid (busy Michael Angarano) who gets sent to Iowa by a fed-up father (Tom Arnold).
This movie knows all the tricks, and uses them. It creates a likable enough mood, and benefits from location shooting in Iowa, which looks like Iowa, not an anonymous movie set.
They grow corn in Iowa, and I guess that’s what this movie offers, too. It’s a little out of season, but if you have to have it, chow down.
“The Final Season”
True blue: Based on a true story, this sports-movie blueprint offers up the last campaign for a storied high school baseball program in Iowa. It’s a heaping helping of corn, but Sean Astin makes a nicely understated head coach, and the location shooting helps.
Rating: PG for language
Now showing: Everett, Meridian, Cascade Mall
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