This film is bad, bad, bad. Badly acted, badly directed, badly lit, you name it. It's full of sentimental claptrap and includes the weirdest (and not in a good way) dream sequences you are likely to see.
But see it anyway, to get a glimpse into what Reggie was like. He comes through, despite the awfulness. You see a little of the real man as he stares down his students on the first day of class (and then "establishes dominance" with a move that would get him fired from any public school in the country). You get a taste of his sense of humor from the outtakes they stuck on the end.
And when he takes off his shirt for that awful staged fight with Paul "The Big Show" Wight, hit the freeze-frame for a second and look at his physique. Reggie never posed with his shirt off in public, and sometimes people thought, especially in his later years, that he was fat. He was not. He was 305 pounds of rippling muscle, and in this one cheesy video moment, you can see how modest a man he must have been. Most guys with a bod like that would have been sure to show it off.
And you'll also understand how he managed to pick men his own size off their feet and toss them aside like dolls.
Reggie was a character. He made a famous speech at the Wisconsin Legislature after he retired that basically ended his public speaking career: He managed to offend virtually every ethnic group, including his own, in 10 minutes. At the time of his death he hadn't been to church in years, despite his oft-noted status as a minister. Instead he was studying Hebrew, looking for his roots, I guess.
All of that is fine by me. He was a football player, after all, not a savior, not a statesman (and clearly not a film producer). He was allowed to be weird. He'll be missed. This movie is worth a look for those reasons alone.
But see it anyway, to get a glimpse into what Reggie was like. He comes through, despite the awfulness. You see a little of the real man as he stares down his students on the first day of class (and then "establishes dominance" with a move that would get him fired from any public school in the country). You get a taste of his sense of humor from the outtakes they stuck on the end.
And when he takes off his shirt for that awful staged fight with Paul "The Big Show" Wight, hit the freeze-frame for a second and look at his physique. Reggie never posed with his shirt off in public, and sometimes people thought, especially in his later years, that he was fat. He was not. He was 305 pounds of rippling muscle, and in this one cheesy video moment, you can see how modest a man he must have been. Most guys with a bod like that would have been sure to show it off.
And you'll also understand how he managed to pick men his own size off their feet and toss them aside like dolls.
Reggie was a character. He made a famous speech at the Wisconsin Legislature after he retired that basically ended his public speaking career: He managed to offend virtually every ethnic group, including his own, in 10 minutes. At the time of his death he hadn't been to church in years, despite his oft-noted status as a minister. Instead he was studying Hebrew, looking for his roots, I guess.
All of that is fine by me. He was a football player, after all, not a savior, not a statesman (and clearly not a film producer). He was allowed to be weird. He'll be missed. This movie is worth a look for those reasons alone.