A handsome LA surfer teenager is sent to stay with relatives (Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin) in Cincinnati while his parents are away to study a special wombat in Australia, encountering bullies and a potential romance in this breezy family film.
Shane McDermott is Mitchell Goosen, with a charming smile and positive attitude, who finds his Ghandi-type pacifism challenged by oh-so-serious Jack (Chris Conrad) and his city school hockey buddies who find this "pretty boy" a nuisance. It's your usual fish-out-of-water culture clash teen dramedy where an outsider must endure certain hardships because he is so different than those around him.
Seth Green gets the chance to play the comedy foil, as Mitchell's loser cousin, Wiley, the little man subject to much bullying from his school peers. Jack Black, in an early role, is Jack's clownish pal, Augie, who, like his best friend, has a certain contempt for Mitchell. Mitchell, who has never played hockey before, is chosen to participate in a big game where the stakes are important to his team because they have lost three years in a row to their rival school. He makes the mistake of scoring a goal against his own team, earning the angered scorn of his teammates who treat him with constant pranks as a result.
Mitchell—the kind of guy with a laid-back personality who would rather get along with everyone and "chill"—has a hard time adjusting to his harsher environment, particularly when so many, like Jack, always want to push his buttons and demand altercations to prove himself in a fight. Mitchell meets a nice, pretty girl, with a knock-out smile, named Nikki (Brittany Powell) who is perhaps the first good thing to happen to him while in Cincinnati, but soon learns that she is Jack's sister, creating obvious complications along the way. Owen Stadele is Jack's nemesis, Blane, who becomes a thorn in Mitchell's side when he attempts to provoke a fight over Nikki, which ultimately leads to a street hockey game and the eventual epic rollerblading challenge down "Devil's Backbone".
The plot is basic teen fodder, with the rollerblading finale the reason to check out "Airborne". The cast is fine all around with some familiar faces before they would become more famous. This fun cast includes Jacob Vargas as streetwise tough-guy, Snake, Daniel and David Betances as twin hockey players who are part of Jack's team, Alanna Ubach as Gloria, Wiley's love interest (set up blind by Nikki in a double date) who would've preferred to stay home but soon grows fond of him despite herself, and, especially Edie McClurg (Planes, Trains, & Automobiles, always a scene stealer, including this film) and Patrick Thomas O'Brien as Aunt Irene and Uncle Jack, Wiley's square parents. Devil's Backbone is essentially a race throughout the city of Cincinnati, quite thrilling in that the danger is always present as the rollerblading teams have to dodge cars and winding curvy roads. We often see members of both teams taking tumbles and sent flying through the air bound to land with a hard thud. During the finale, "Airborne" allows McDermott's character (not just here, but in other portions of the movie when Mitchell shows out for the local skateboarders and bikers) to perform magnificent feats like leaping completely over a moving vehicle and jumping from a bridge, onto a truck, and safely to the street without a scratch. The movie is harmless, really, with standard teenage melodramatics you have seen in countless movies with high schoolers regarding burgeoning love and friction that derives from being in a new place, with new people. Plenty of rollerblading action to keep the adrenaline pumping, along with Mitchell's Zen-philosophical outlook on life, earning the ire of many who find him annoying.
Shane McDermott is Mitchell Goosen, with a charming smile and positive attitude, who finds his Ghandi-type pacifism challenged by oh-so-serious Jack (Chris Conrad) and his city school hockey buddies who find this "pretty boy" a nuisance. It's your usual fish-out-of-water culture clash teen dramedy where an outsider must endure certain hardships because he is so different than those around him.
Seth Green gets the chance to play the comedy foil, as Mitchell's loser cousin, Wiley, the little man subject to much bullying from his school peers. Jack Black, in an early role, is Jack's clownish pal, Augie, who, like his best friend, has a certain contempt for Mitchell. Mitchell, who has never played hockey before, is chosen to participate in a big game where the stakes are important to his team because they have lost three years in a row to their rival school. He makes the mistake of scoring a goal against his own team, earning the angered scorn of his teammates who treat him with constant pranks as a result.
Mitchell—the kind of guy with a laid-back personality who would rather get along with everyone and "chill"—has a hard time adjusting to his harsher environment, particularly when so many, like Jack, always want to push his buttons and demand altercations to prove himself in a fight. Mitchell meets a nice, pretty girl, with a knock-out smile, named Nikki (Brittany Powell) who is perhaps the first good thing to happen to him while in Cincinnati, but soon learns that she is Jack's sister, creating obvious complications along the way. Owen Stadele is Jack's nemesis, Blane, who becomes a thorn in Mitchell's side when he attempts to provoke a fight over Nikki, which ultimately leads to a street hockey game and the eventual epic rollerblading challenge down "Devil's Backbone".
The plot is basic teen fodder, with the rollerblading finale the reason to check out "Airborne". The cast is fine all around with some familiar faces before they would become more famous. This fun cast includes Jacob Vargas as streetwise tough-guy, Snake, Daniel and David Betances as twin hockey players who are part of Jack's team, Alanna Ubach as Gloria, Wiley's love interest (set up blind by Nikki in a double date) who would've preferred to stay home but soon grows fond of him despite herself, and, especially Edie McClurg (Planes, Trains, & Automobiles, always a scene stealer, including this film) and Patrick Thomas O'Brien as Aunt Irene and Uncle Jack, Wiley's square parents. Devil's Backbone is essentially a race throughout the city of Cincinnati, quite thrilling in that the danger is always present as the rollerblading teams have to dodge cars and winding curvy roads. We often see members of both teams taking tumbles and sent flying through the air bound to land with a hard thud. During the finale, "Airborne" allows McDermott's character (not just here, but in other portions of the movie when Mitchell shows out for the local skateboarders and bikers) to perform magnificent feats like leaping completely over a moving vehicle and jumping from a bridge, onto a truck, and safely to the street without a scratch. The movie is harmless, really, with standard teenage melodramatics you have seen in countless movies with high schoolers regarding burgeoning love and friction that derives from being in a new place, with new people. Plenty of rollerblading action to keep the adrenaline pumping, along with Mitchell's Zen-philosophical outlook on life, earning the ire of many who find him annoying.