by Frank Wilkins
It's only fitting that a movie of such heavy-handed intention features Cuba Gooding, Jr., the master of heavy-handed acting. While Gooding's one and only memorable screen performance, as Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire, "showed him the gold", the only gold he'll receive for his role in Radio will come from his dental prosthetics. That is if the prop master allows him to keep them.

Gooding plays James Robert "Radio" Kennedy, a man of mental deficiencies who is befriended by not only the local football coach, but by an entire town. After coach Harold Jones (Ed Harris) finds Radio bound and gagged at the hands of his star football player, he uses the incident as not only motivation for his football team, but also as a chance at redemption for his own troubled soul. Gooding's performance is thankfully a bit more subdued than I expected. It doesn't compare to Sean Penn's in I Am Sam, nor is it of the same caliber as Dustin Hoffman's in Rainman. But he most assuredly benefits from the feel-good nature of the movie.

While the film's premise is a noble one, and the outcome of the true story is a notch in the belt of humanity for all persons, screenwriter Mike Rich's script forces the feel good message into double coverage by resorting to overtly syrupy tactics that leave the audience feeling manipulated. As a result, the story seems to follow a generic formula that telegraphs every move. In the end, we don't learn much more than what is revealed in the trailers.

As coach Jones, Harris grounds the tale with his rock-solid performance and convincing sincerity. At odds with Jones over Radio's presence at the school is Hanna High's principal played by Alfre Woodard. She is bounced back-and-forth between her support of Harris' compassion and the liabilities presented to her by the school board representatives. Also at odds with Radio's presence on the coaching squad are some of the players as well as a few of the local townspeople who see Radio as a "distraction that needs dealing with."

That Radio is a black man and most of the townspeople are white seems like an obvious point of contention that was surprisingly bypassed. Throughout the movie, I expected the story's conflict to come from a racial angle, but it never did. In fact, there wasn't any real conflict at all.

Radio is one of those movies that, because of its kind-hearted message and good intentions, is hard to take offense to. Although it is riddled with missing elements - especially meaningful character arcs - and despite its overuse of industry clichés and mass-produced sympathy, Radio will warm your heart.

Frank Wilkins


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