It's 1953. Ralph Walker is a student at St. Magnus Catholic School in Hamilton, Ontario. He's obsessed with sex, gets picked on and tries smoking. He's a regular 14 year old. He asks Claire Collins out but later she cancels by telling him that she wants to be a nun. His sick mother is in the hospital taken care of by nurse Alice (Jennifer Tilly). His father died in the war. He lives at home alone by lying to everybody. Strict headmaster Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent) conscripts him to run cross country coached by Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott). After his mother falls into a coma, Alice tells him that she needs a miracle. So he sets about to performing a miracle by winning the Boston marathon.
This has an innocent kind of religious charm. The comedic touches are there but they don't always hit it out of the park. The kid is OK and everybody do their jobs. The sincere straight forward ending with the Boston marathon threw me off originally. Upon some consideration, it gives the movie a magic realism that works. It is so sincere that the movie satisfies in a deeper way.
This has an innocent kind of religious charm. The comedic touches are there but they don't always hit it out of the park. The kid is OK and everybody do their jobs. The sincere straight forward ending with the Boston marathon threw me off originally. Upon some consideration, it gives the movie a magic realism that works. It is so sincere that the movie satisfies in a deeper way.