RACEWALKERS: 3 ½ STARS. “finds emotional depth and humor by not punching down.”
SYNOPSIS: In “Racewalkers” a new underdog sports comedy now playing in theatres, an aspiring track and field coach and a washed-up baseball player team up to compete in the competitive world of race walking.
CAST: Kevin Claydon, Phil Moniz, Robbie Amell, Greg Bryk. Directed by Kevin Claydon and Phil Moniz.
REVIEW: “Racewalkers” walks the walk, molding a handful of sports cliches into a crowd-pleaser about perseverance and redemption, with equal parts slapstick and sincerity.
The story begins with Matt Mackenzie (Kevin Claydon, who also co-wrote the script), a washed-up former pro baseball player, now living in a van as he umpires little league games and pines for his ex-wife.
Meanwhile, physiologist and racewalking fan Will Lester (Phil Moniz, who co-wrote and co-directed) is stymied in his attempts to become a coach, kept out of the club by his hypercompetitive uncle Kurt Lester (Greg Bryk), whose son Ched (Robbie Amell) is an Olympic hopeful in the sport.
When Will meets Matt he immediately sees promise in the former ball player’s natural heel-to-toe gait. Race walking is not quite jogging or running; it’s a specific discipline that requires clenched butt cheeks and a distinctive rolling hip motion that creates a wiggle that propels the walker forward. “Looks like he’s coked out at a salsa bar,” says Ava (Italia Ricci).
With some training, he could give Chad a run for Olympic glory. “Racewalking is not walking, it’s a dance,” Will tells Matt.
But before they make it to the big leagues, they must work through Matt’s shattered confidence and Kurt’s dirty tricks.
Like all good sports movies “Racewalkers” isn’t just about the sport, although there is a fair amount of it on display. Instead, it’s about perseverance, passion, friendship and finding purpose. That it makes you laugh during its snappy 80-minute runtime is a bonus.
Kevin Claydon and Phil Moniz provide the film’s heart, bringing easy chemistry and razor-sharp comic timing to their roles. They bring the funny, but there’s also a great deal of warmth between them that gives the movie a great deal of charm.
“Racewalkers” could have been an over-the-top movie about a sport that, by its hip-swiveling nature, lends itself to parody, but instead it finds emotional depth by not punching down.
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