Ultra DumbJuly 7, 2008 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I wanted to like this movie & I know that it's heart is in the right place, but it is probably the dumbest movie ever made. Dumb as in profoundly lacking in intelligence. As in trivializing something meaningful. I can't express how much I didn't like this.
Capra-like; simple and clumsy but sweetMay 3, 2008 Chuck Murdock is a good kid and a crack Little League pitcher from a small town in Montana. After taking a tour of nuclear missile siloes with his classmates, Chuck becomes obsessed by nuclear war and decides to stage a personal protest against it by refusing to play ball until the weapons are dismantled. A pro basketball player with the Boston Celtics named "Amazing" Grace Smith hears about Chuck's crusade and decides to join the kid's strike, moving out to Montana to be near him, annoying his agent (Jamie Lee Curtis), and convincing other pro athletes to come on board. All the notoriety turns the town against Chuck and his family, with his befuddled father (William Petersen) caught in the middle. Eventually, even the President (Gregory Peck) has to sit up and take notice. This Capra-like film, a classic what-one-person-can-achieve-if-he-puts-his-mind-to-it tale, is as sweet and clumsy as its title. Denver Nuggets star Alex English was a surprisingly photogenic and natural actor in his screen debut, and Red Auerbach cameo'd as himself. Director Mike Newell had mostly done TV before this 1987 effort, but would go on to make the much more accomplished "Enchanted April" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral."
what a gem, what a pearlMay 2, 2007 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
what an absolute delight, a gem of a piece of art, totally engrossing and a sort of movie you want to immediately, no, INSTANTLY, call friends and family alike, and tell them all about it...in great detail...on and on endlessly.....
Joshua Zhulke's performance can be laid on pace with that of Henry Thomas in E.T., Haley Joel in Pay it Forward or Edges of the Lord or Barrett Oliver in Neverending Story.
Awesome.
among my favesMarch 3, 2007 4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Life is Beautiful, Pay it Forward, I Am Sam, Braveheart....this movie is right there with them. I was cleaing the basement and thinking about a friend of mine and Pay it Forward came to mind and then this...Amazing Grace and Chuck. I read a quote today...
The power of one is all we have, but we all have it.
That quote sums up this movie.
sweet & hopeful family fantasyAugust 20, 2006 8 out of 8 found this review helpful
The Amazing Grace and Chuck is a feel good film that we need now in this time of bumbling policies and cynicism. Sure it is far-fetched, but so is Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz, and you don't see very many detractors of those classics.
The fact that the setting makes it seem real doesn't interpolate to actual reality, but there is a lot of morality to be learned from it in any case.
Then there is the splendid debut of the central Chuck, Joshua Zuehlk, who has never been seen again in anything of any substance. A shame, cuz the lad has chops. Haley Joel chops. And with the much-deserved not-so-overnight success of the fine Manhunting William L. Petersen (Mr. CSI himself), you'd think this hollers for release. Given all the bilge that DOES make the bins, this stuns me.
A great cast, funny, suspenseful, tender, current. And a bonus for fantasy hoops and Beantown fans, lotsa Garden footage of an erstwhile dream...Alex English donning the kelly shamrocks.
