McFarland, USA

Theatrical Release Date: 2015 02 20 (USA)

UPC: 786936845938

Studio: Walt Disney

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Mild Violence, Adult Situations, Mild Language]

Summary: In this inspiring Disney sports drama based on actual events, Kevin Costner plays a high-school football coach who ends up leading a cross-country track team made up of lower-class Latino students to a state championship.

Jim White (Costner) finds his days as a football coach numbered when an incident with a player leads to his dismissal. Desperate for work, he moves his wife (Maria Bello) and daughters (Morgan Saylor and Elsie Fisher) from Idaho to McFarland, CA, a rural town that's predominately Latino and the only place willing to give him a teaching job. The family feel like they don't fit into their new community, but White has an epiphany one day when he sees his students running from their early-morning farming jobs to school: Why not channel their talents into running cross-country track? Soon enough, White is connecting with his young charges, particularly a gifted athlete named Thomas (Carlos Pratts), and the squad set their sights on a state championship. ~ Jack Rodgers, Rovi

Category: Drama

McFarland, USA

Format: DVD

Release Date: 06/02/2015

Runtime: 129 Minutes

Tim Holland

Inspiring, true-life sports movies are a cinematic staple, and some of the best have been produced by Disney, such as Miracle, Remember the Titans, The Rookie, and The Greatest Game Ever Played. Now, the House of Mouse adds to its impressive r�sum� with McFarland, USA, a rousing crowd pleaser about an underdog track team that can proudly takes its place among these other fine sports films.

Kevin Costner stars as Jim White, a former high-school football coach who, in 1987, moves his family from Idaho to McFarland, CA, a farm-rich but economically poor area that is predominately Latino, to accept the only teaching job he can get after he is fired due to an abusive encounter with a player on his team. As White, his wife Cheryl (Maria Bello), and two daughters (Morgan Saylor, Elsie Fisher) take up residence in their new neighborhood, they are as out of place as their name suggests. They can't even understand how to order tacos at a local restaurant, and give in to stereotypical fears when they see a line of low-riders being driven by Mexican-Americans and assume they are gangbangers. Things aren't any better when Jim starts teaching science and P.E. at McFarland High School while also assisting with the hapless football team. The kids continually tease him and call him "Blanco," and he's soon forced to relinquish his gridiron duties when he has a run-in with the controlling head coach. But things start to turn around when Jim sees how fast some of the kids in his P.E. class can run, and he forms the school's first cross-country track team with seven of the students. Their speed and athleticism, he soon discovers, are due to running a long distance each day to school after working in the agricultural fields in the early morning. But they're not only fast; they have an ingrained work ethic, and a commitment to family and friends that pushes them to work harder than the privileged kids from elite schools they run against. Could these novice nobodies, who wear caps with their mascot's name misspelled, actually win a state championship in cross-country?

It would be easy to dismiss McFarland, USA, as predictable and formulaic -- which it is -- but it's imbued with such great heart that viewers will quickly lose themselves in its all-too-familiar tale of likely losers who achieve the seemingly impossible. Two things set the movie apart. First, there are the performances, with Costner being the anchor. The laconic actor has rarely been better than he is here. His Jim White is fatherly but flawed, strong but stubborn, and Costner slips into the role with such ease you forget you're watching a gifted thespian at work. He's matched by the naturalistic Bello and also by a terrific ensemble led by standout Carlos Pratts as the team's most conflicted and best runner. Second, the movie puts a spotlight on a hardworking community that is too rarely seen onscreen. Director Niki Caro (Whale Rider, North Country), and screenwriters Christopher Cleveland, Bettina Gilois, and Grant Thompson are as interested in immersing us in their story's unique locale, with its proud people and rich traditions, as they are in their runners chasing a championship. The result is first-rate entertainment that will delight moviegoers, and not just sports enthusiasts, of all ages. ~ Tim Holland, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Mario Iscovich  Executive Producer 
Chris Cleveland  Screenwriter 
Antonio Pinto  Composer (Music Score) 
Niki Caro  Director 
Mark Ciardi  Producer 
Grant Thompson  Screenwriter 
Bettina Gilois  Screenwriter 
Gordon Gray  Producer 
Mary Martin  Executive Producer 
Kevin Costner  Actor 
Maria Bello  Actor 
Morgan Saylor  Actor 
Martha Higareda  Actor 
Sergio Avelar  Actor 
Hector Duran  Actor 
Rafael Martinez  Actor 
John Ortiz  Actor 
Carlos Pratts  Actor 
Ramiro Rodriguez  Actor 
Danny Mora  Actor 
Valente Rodriguez  Actor 
Vanessa Martinez  Actor 
Chris Ellis  Actor 
Diana-Maria Riva  Actor 
Omar Leyva  Actor 
Rigo Sanchez  Actor 
Chelsea Rendon  Actor 
Michael Aguero  Actor 
Elsie Fisher  Actor 
Natalia Cordova  Actor 
Ben Bray  Actor 
Adriana Diaz Chapa  Actor 
Eloy Casados  Actor 
Josh Clark  Actor 
Daniel Moncada  Actor 
Ashley Bravo  Actor 
Chad Mountain  Actor 
J. Downing  Actor 
Brian Connors  Actor 
Alex Macnicoll  Actor 
Vincent Martella  Actor 
Michael Tong  Actor 
Baxter Frick  Actor 
Juana Flores  Actor 
Regi Davis  Actor 
Connor Weil  Actor 
Tyler Sellers  Actor 
Anthony Renaud  Actor 
Brian Hayes Currie  Actor 
Sarah Benoit  Actor 
Jorge Luis Padilla  Actor 
Isabelle Ortega  Actor 
Salvador Velez  Actor 
Isaiah Gonzales  Actor 
Catherine Toribio  Actor 
Rosa Ochoa  Actor 
Rebeca Silva  Actor 
John Funk  Actor 
Sean O'Connell  Actor 
Jeffrey G. Sheller  Actor 
Mariachi Sol De Mexico  Actor 
Alfredo Lopez  Actor 

Country: USA