Yes, it’s syrupy sweet at times but the movie
”
Radio,
”
currently playing at Premiere Cinemas, is well worth
watching.
This one-hour and 49-minute release from Columbia Pictures is a
warm sensitive look at the better side of human nature.
This film directed by Michael Tollin (
”
Hardball,
”
”
Varsity Blues
”
and
”
Summer Catch
”
) is supposed to be an breakout role for Cuba Gooding Jr. (
”
Jerry Maguire,
”
”
Men of Honor
”
and
”
A Few Good Men
”
) as far as his acting is concerned.
Yes, it’s syrupy sweet at times but the movie “Radio,” currently playing at Premiere Cinemas, is well worth watching.
This one-hour and 49-minute release from Columbia Pictures is a warm sensitive look at the better side of human nature.
This film directed by Michael Tollin ( “Hardball,” “Varsity Blues” and “Summer Catch”) is supposed to be an breakout role for Cuba Gooding Jr. ( “Jerry Maguire,” “Men of Honor” and “A Few Good Men”) as far as his acting is concerned.
However, it’s the veteran and highly regarded Ed Harris (“The Hours,” “Pollock,” “A Beautiful Mind” and “Apollo 13”) who steals most of this picture with a great performance that works on several levels.
Gooding and Harris work well together portraying the real-life characters of a severely mentally-challenged man nicknamed Radio and Coach Jones who meet at a high school football field in Anderson, South Carolina.
But “Radio” doesn’t focus on the sport as much as on the title character, a man of child-like purity who brought joy to this sports-minded community. Whenever he encounters an obstacle, he never has any animosity. He doesn’t hold a grudge. It’s really a story of two men who inspire each other, and who grow as a result of their friendship.
Meeting Radio is the beginning of a journey for Coach Jones, who learns that there is more to life than the Friday night game.
Jones is a man who loves being the head football coach of a big high school, so much so that during the season he’s withdrawn from his loving wife, Linda played wonderfully by Debra Winger ( “Urban Cowboy,” “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “Terms of Endearment.”) who remembers the warm loving man inside and never stops trying to get through to him, to tell him he’s missing out on life.
Linda’s words seem to fall on deaf ears until the coach meets Radio, who opens something inside Jones that has been dormant for a long time.
The relationship between the two men evolves slowly and initially it has its setbacks.
At first, Radio is mistrustful, because of the way he’s been treated by society by either being ridiculed or ignored.
So in a large sense Radio has retreated from life, rather than endure the pain of rejection.
The only person Radio completely trusts is his mother, Maggie, played well by S. Epatha Merkerson ( “Terminator 2,” “A Mother’s Prayer” and “The Rising Place.”)
The only person Radio completely trusts is his mother, Maggie, who is also skeptical of Jones’ intentions.
Tollin wanted to film in the actual town of Anderson, South Carolina, where the movie takes place, but they could not because it has undergone a lot of modernization since the mid 1970s, when the bulk of the story takes place.
Tollin chose Walterboro, S.C., about an hour from Charleston, because it had everything they needed, an old high school, an empty gym, an old jail an empty bank and a football stadium.
Having Harris play a coach seemed completely natural for the former star high school football player and baseball player in Tenafly, NJ.
