There are a few subjects more perfectly suited to the medium of film than the sports story. Sports provide a built-in context for storytelling: a team that functions as a surrogate family, conflict baked in, and fans and supporters alike to help move the plot along. In terms of setup, they are effectively unmatched. Sports movies provide a framework upon which you can hang a story about characters overcoming odds and achieving greatness, either professionally or personally.

Ray “Ray-Ray” McElrathbey’s story is seemingly also perfectly designed for the cinema. After gaining a full scholarship to Clemson University to play football, he ends up also taking custody of his eleven-year-old brother Fahmarr after his mother relapses. There’s a lot of potential for story and character there, and the resulting film does its best –for better and for worse– to tell as much of it as possible.

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