My All-American is a red-blooded, God-fearing cavalcade of wall-to-wall, inspirational earnestness. It’s based on the true story of Freddie Steinmark, the late Colorado high-school star who played for the University of Texas Longhorns during the turbulent ‘60s. The whole story is framed by legendary UT coach Darrell Royal (Aaron Eckhart, covered in ghastly prosthetics) telling a reporter why Steinmark, who never made it to All-American status, was nevertheless the best player he ever coached.
Apart from being a pint-sized fury on the field, Steinmark was, according to the movie, a saint who touched the lives of people practically on a daily basis. As played here by the Matt Damon-esque Finn Wittrock, he's the very model of a good-natured gentleman: He shies away from drugs and booze, stays faithful to his high school sweetheart (Sarah Bolger), and is there for his roommate/teammate (Rett Terrell) when his brother dies in Vietnam. Hell, he even cheers Royal up when he makes team decisions the school doesn’t agree with.
Of course, when you see a kid this perfect in a movie like this, you start waiting for the other shoe to drop. Eventually, dude gets a pain in his left knee and starts limping around, which still doesn’t stop him from stubbornly playing in games. It turns out the limp is a sign of a cancerous tumor. But I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that a limb amputation isn’t going to get our boy down.
If My All-American sounds like an even more sentimental version of Rudy, that's because it too comes from the playbook of inspirational-sports-movie vet Angelo Pizzo (Hoosiers). Using Jim Dent’s tear-jerking biography Courage Beyond the Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story as source material, screenwriter turned director Pizzo piles on the familiar tropes, right down to the suspenseful game recreations, the sweeping score and the unbelievably wholesome characters. When it comes to sports movies, My All-American is a greatest-hits collection.
The movie makes a bid for the faith-based dollar, reminding us that Steinmark was also a mass-attending Christian who prayed whenever things got rough. But Pizzo doesn’t aggressively pummel the audience with that side of Steinmark. Ever the triumph-of-the-spirit chronicler, Pizzo prefers to give us another sincere, predictably uplifting portrait of a gridiron warrior who gritted his teeth through the pain and persevered through hard work and dedication. God may have been there for guidance, but that boy stood up and got out there on his own, dammit.
