Black Bear Pictures, Treehouse Pictures, Killer Films,
Zac Efron, Heather Graham, Dennis Quaid, Clancy Brown, Kim Dickens, Chelcie Ross, Maika Monroe, Red West, Sophie Curtis, John Hoogenakker
Dean Whipple (Zac Efron) loves racing. He’s a good driver, and has his heart set on racing for a living. But his dad Henry (Dennis Quaid) is dead set against anything other than Dean taking over the families farming business. The Whipples have been a farming family for generations, and when we meet Henry’s father, we find out why he’s so tough on his son. But Henry also is trying to keep the business afloat by doing some shady business deals, and something they call “cleaning” seeds, which is saving some of the genetically modified seeds to resell, which is illegal under their contract. The family is in crisis and can lose their farm when the seed company sends investigators to check out Henry’s business practices. This film is mostly about the family and the pressures to stay afloat in very tough times as well as the relationship between 3 generations of Whipple men.
This is a relatively interesting film, although it’s ground that we’ve covered again and again. It’s son who doesn’t want to be “a doctor, a lawyer, a cop, a marine, a farmer) and wants to exert his independence from a dictatorial father who just doesn’t understand him. That part of it we’ve seen before. Then there’s the guy who has to be somebody who makes some bad decisions and risks his whole family for his greed. It is a familiar story, and is often blasted by the critics. But I did enjoy this movie, after all, and for several varied reasons. Dennis Quaid is pretty good here. He did an excellent job with his character, and I could really feel the pressures he was under to perform. He never says it, but we feel that he too, is making the best of a life that he had no choice in. His father is very rude, and is quite easy to hate, but I feel like he’s a product of his generation too, and probably his father as well. Choices were made for them, and they had no choice but to continue in the family business. That’s why it’s easy to see why he can’t understand why Dean is not at all interested in following in the predetermined plan. It’s true that the players brought their own problems on themselves due to really bad choices, but I think it’s understandable why they did what they did. Zac has a relatively dramatic role which he handles really well. He’s getting pretty good at drama and losing the Disney Channel image without naked twerking and raping Robin Thicke at the VMA rewards. He’s turning into a dramatic actor. All in all it’s a familiar story that isn’t extremely memorable or remarkable, but its a warm friendly old fashioned American tale of small town people. It was relaxing to watch, and enjoyable, and I had no trouble with the story. It was relaxing to watch.
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