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Starring James Caan, Craig Sheffer. Maybe you only weighed 180 pounds. Maybe you were only 5'8". Maybe you played high school football for an 0-10 team with no press coverage. Whatever the case may have been, if you want to know what it was, or is like to play college football for a Division I team, then this is the film for you. The Program is the most realistic and well made fictional sports film I've seen.The problem with most sports films (cough, cough, ahem, Necessary Roughness) is the screenwriters decision to base the majority of on-screen action in fantasyland. In The Last Boy Scout, a running back decides to open his own holes on the field and pulls out a handgun and starts shooting DB's; in Jerry Maguire, who was it that expected me to believe that one climb into the stands on Monday Night Football would secure a long term NFL contract for Cuba Gooding Jr.? Writers Aaron Latham and David S. Ward, who also directed, consciously chose not to do this, and ended up with a surprisingly solid film. The characters in The Program have problems, but these are problems that actual football players have to deal with and avoid on a daily basis. The plot of The Program is simple: Ward and crew follow a year in the life of Eastern State University (E.S.U.) football team. The film opens as E.S.U. comes a dropped pass away from a bowl game. The coach, James Caan, expresses in a post-game interview that all E.S.U. needs to take their team to the next level, next year, is a running back to compliment Heisman hopeful, quarterback Joe Kane (Craig Sheffer). Caan recruits Darnell Jefferson (Omar Epps) out of Philadelphia, and the pieces have fallen into place for the next season. Part of the enjoyment of watching this film came from the fact that most of the actors, with the notable exception of James Caan, aren't that well known to audiences. Thus, when we look at Sheffer, Epps, Duane Davis, and Andrew Bryniarski we see them as their on-screen counterparts. Never for a minute did I believe Robert Loggia or Hector Elizondo, of Pretty Woman fame, as coaches in Necessary Roughness. As a matter of fact, I had to make a mental note not to ask what the manager of the Beverly Hilton was doing coaching football in Texas. What deserves the most praise though is Ward and Latham's script. They attack real college sport problems in alcoholism and steroid abuse, and interweave a fresh sense of humor in many of the situations occurring on campus. Hollywood has produced some very well made sports films in the last twenty years, The Natural, White Men Can't Jump, and Bull Durham come to mind, but The Program stands out as being the most realistic of the bunch. The acting is without any major flaws, the hits are hard, and Ward's direction stylish and probing. This film is guaranteed to give you new insights and sympathy to all those Division I football players out there. See this one.
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