As I have said many times, including on the Tomcast 2020 podcast, if you had told me 20 years ago I would be a fan of Ben Affleck’s work, I would not have believed you. As an actor and a director, Affleck has turned his career around artistically. However, recently his life seems to be in a bit of a dark place, with his longtime marriage to Jennifer Garner falling apart, rehab for alcoholism, and even an admission he felt he would have drank himself to death if he made a Batman movie.
It’s with that in mind that his new movie The Way Back perhaps evokes a bit too much of its lead actor.
Affleck stars as Jack Cunningham, a one time high school basketball star who isn’t doing very well. He’s an (at time, barely) functional alcoholic working construction, living out of a rundown house, and who never seems to be too far from his next drink. He’s separated from his wife for reasons that aren’t clear at first but are almost certainly connected to his drinking, something he doesn’t seem to realize is not a thing he’s kept secret from anybody. One day, he gets a call from the priest/principal of his old Catholic high school, asking if he could take over as the head basketball coach. Jack hasn’t even touched a ball since high school. But maybe this is a path for him. His drive, passion, and knowledge of the game do improve the team he’s inherited, a ragtag squad of boys who can barely fill the required roster and haven’t won too many games lately. Can Jack stay sober long enough to make a difference for these kids?
In many ways, The Way Back plays like a very standard sports story blended with a very standard melodrama about an alcoholic. Heck, for most of the first two acts, it does seem more like an underdog sports story, complete with an opposing coach who could easily be the villain the team needs to defeat in the final scene. But The Way Back is about Jack, not the team, and even though his reasons for becoming a drunken mess may not be much of a secret for anyone who paid attention to the trailers.
As such, this is really Affleck’s movie, and he nails the performance. Yes, it probably is the result of Affleck actually living that life, but that doesn’t make the performance any less affecting. There’s a rage beneath the surface, and the means by which Jack keeps a drink handy and perhaps hides his addiction really rings true. The plot may not have too many original ideas, but that doesn’t change the fact that Affleck really nails this part, and his known history certainly doesn’t hurt here. Plus, there’s a nice supporting turn from Al Madrigal as the assistant coach.
Director Gavin O’Connor may have made a movie that hits familiar beats, but his star made something of it. The movie did, at one point, seem to be saying Jack’s path was a bit easier than it should have been, but this movie doesn’t really offer its protagonist easy outs, something its star sadly probably knows all too well.
Grade: B+
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