Movie review, The Senior, directed by Rod Lurie, starring Michael Chiklis. The Senior is out now in theaters.
In a story designed to indulge the fantasy of any aging ex-athlete, especially the most self-delusional, Mike Flynt, 59, finds out that he has one year of eligibility left to play football at Division III Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. Having been kicked out of school just prior to his senior season for fighting, Flynt envisions an opportunity for redemption, and as this movie depicts, he returns to his alma mater for his “Senior” year.
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If the story wasn’t true, the premise would be too absurd to hang a movie around, but Michael Chiklis, 62, most famous for his role as Detective Vic Mackey in The Shield, plays The Senior with such authenticity that the viewer does not scornfully laugh along with the initially disbelieving coaches and players at Sul Ross State.
When the movie began with an inspirational message from the real Mike Flynt, I was a little worried about where this presumed hagiography would lead, I needn’t have been. Once the movie got going, I realized that this was a far more nuanced portrayal than the trailer had promised. What makes this movie really engaging is that it is not just a tale of one man’s quest to right a wrong from his past. While it certainly is a tale of redemption, and also of the triumph of one’s will, it is also a larger story of what it means to go on that journey. Mr. Flynt is played as a flawed individual, but as a flawed individual that you root for on a human level.
The movie even delves into the selfishness of such a decision. Explaining to your wife that you need to uproot her life to move from Tennessee to west Texas so you can attempt to make a football team at age 59 is not a task that I envied. Inevitably, he wins her support, but with the caveat that he completes the necessary credits to earn his college degree, whether or not he makes the team. Not to mention the risk of serious, and enduring injury, a fact that every football player faces, but usually not from the perspective of a 30 year gap in age between the competitors.
There are no villains in the movie. In fact, you understand why the one player that chafes at Mike Flynt’s successful bid to make the team does so. He is understandably upset that his best friend was cut from the team to make room for Flynt on the roster. It serves as an interesting, opposing perspective that I was pleasantly surprised that the movie tackled. Is it selfish for a 59-year-old man who will never play again to take the place of a current student? Couldn’t he have just gone to fantasy camp?
In a manner possibly as improbable as the story itself, Chiklis plays football credibly in this movie. I cringed when I first saw him in street clothes. I figured, even if the movie is pretty good, the football won’t be. I don’t go to the movies to get my football fix, I get enough of that on Sunday afternoons, but if the football played on screen is completely absurd, it can distract you and take you out of it. For the most part, they get it right here.
Chiklis also gets the other aspects of the lead character right. He exudes intensity in every role that he plays, at times to the point of parody. What makes this role work is that he doesn’t indulge that characteristic, he uses its buried existence to make for a more powerful portrayal in its suppression. It is always lurking, making it more realistic in the few moments that you actually see it deployed. He is also able to bring a certain sincerity to the role, an ebullience that he utilizes in building solid relationships with players so junior to him. He is especially successful in connecting to a couple of young African-American players, relationships that seemed very real in a depiction that could have too easily have tilted toward contrivance. Little touches like that go a long way. Corey Knight, who plays one of the young players (Jeremy Cartwright) is an actor I’m going to keep my eye on. He and Chiklis have a chemistry that you can’t fake.
Mary Stuart Masterson is also very good as his wife, Eileen, longtime sweethearts, dating back to his original tenure at Sul Ross. It is a role that could have easily been thankless and perfunctory, playing either the doormat or wet blanket. She gives her husband necessary doses of reality, as she pushes back on, but never quite squashes his athletic dreams. She understands that this is more than a simple desire, there is almost a need that Flynt is experiencing.
Brandon Flynn, who plays Mike’s son Micah, has the toughest role in the movie. He serves as the naysayer, the sensible one, who questions why any of this is necessary. The father-son dynamic is an underdeveloped theme in the movie. Mike’s relationship with Micah is paralleled with flashback scenes of Mike with his father, where we see Mike repeating the same mistakes with Micah that he experienced with his father. It felt like a bit of an add-on, and Micah’s constant harping on his dad’s dream, while perfectly understandable, felt a bit too on note.
The flashbacks, where James Badge Dale plays Flynt’s father, do, however, provide a necessary element of the story. Ultimately, through this endeavor, Mike Flynt is able to confront a cycle of, not quite abuse, but of a macho culture of aggressiveness that had led to some of his previous issues with anger, which clouded his relationship with his own son. As Flynt realizes that this is about more than football, he is able to utilize that to repair the relationship.
I was afraid this movie would be in constant overdrive, slamming me over the head with an inspirational story, begging me to root for the main character. This easily could have been cartoonish. Even the humor is realistic. Rob Corddry, the former Daily Show correspondent, could have easily turned up his comic chops to eleven as the head coach, and while he makes some wry remarks, he shows a similar restraint in performance that serves the movie well.
The director Rod Lurie (The Contender) masters the correct tone for this movie. It doesn’t overstay its welcome either. It can be tempting to spend too much time with that last football scene, gilding the lily, but watching it here, just as I felt my first pinch of impatience, the movie moves to its conclusion. The closing credits provide a glimpse of the real Mike Flynt in action. Sometimes those extras can seem extraneous, but in this case it feels well earned.
“You’re Too Old For That” is a regular series that explores inspiring activities being pursued by those over 50 years old who feel you’re never too old to do what lights you up. Are you doing something inspiring? Do you know someone who is pursuing a passion in their older years? If you or someone you know is 50 years old or older and should have their inspiring story told, please email the editors at Nifty 50+
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