Rush

A boy walks with his father, fishing pole in hand.  A college-bound teen shares one last dance with his high school sweetheart.  A sweet yet naive teen stands in the bathroom of the local hangout, receiving relationship advice from a cool greaser.  As an actor, Ron Howard grew up in front of America.  Though he gained some height and years between his turns as Opie and Richie Cunningham, he never really left the early 60s.  His freckled face and red hair will forever represent the good ol', gosh darn, American Glory Days.

As a director, Ron Howard will always represent Hollywood mediocrity, and the tendency to grab at low-hanging, sentimental fruit.  I'll be honest, I do not like Ron Howard as a  director.  He has made three good films in his career: Willow, Backdraft, and Apollo 13.  They are all well-crafted, exciting, blockbuster fare.  Besides these three films, I find no worth in the rest of Howard's filmography.  "Hey man, what about Cinderella Man?"  Don't you mean sepia-toned Rocky?  "What about A Beautiful Mind?  It won an Oscar you know."  I am aware.  It's just contrived hokum.  "The Da Vinci Code?"  Don't talk to me.

It's disappointing, because Howard's films should be amazing.  He draws in the best talent, writers, and film crews.  His partnership with Brian Grazer and their production company, Imagine, give Howard great resources and artistic freedom.  He makes big-budget, prestige dramas in an era when most Hollywood output is sci-fi or action junk.  Howard could be producing American classics.  Instead, he is settling for safe, predictable, Oscar bait.

The newest addition to the Howard "ouevre" is Rush, a flat, nail on the head, sports drama (I used the quotation marks because I was being sarcastic about the whole "oeuvre" thing.  You can't have an "oeuvre" if you made Splash.  Sorry).   Like the rest of Howard's films, Rush had the potential to be fantastic.  Two Formula One drivers push each other toward greatness and bring the sport into the international spotlight.  It really is an inspiring and entertaining story.  However, told by Ron Howard, every scene is delivered with a plate of cheese and a double order of sincerity.

To be fair, the main issue with Rush is the script.  I was surprised to see Peter Morgan's name in the credits.  He penned The Queen and The Last King of Scotland, both beautifully crafted screenplays.  His script for Rush leaves nothing to the imagination.  Characters say what they are thinking and scream the film's theme out to the cheap seats.  I'll give this to Morgan and Howard: I was never confused during Rush.  Guys argue.  Cars go in a circle.  Wives are scared.  They argue again.  They start to respect each other.  Audience feels good.  Solid work.

As always, Howard's direction is utterly uninteresting.  His shot selection is boring for a majority of the film, interspersed with unnecessary artsy shots.  There are some very nice extreme close-ups of a turning record.  Cool.  We see some macroscopic close-ups of the drivers' eyes.  Distracting, but nice.  Throw in the obligatory computer generated engine interiors, and there's the film.  His direction of actors is just as uninteresting.  Say it big.  Say it loud.  It is sad to see actors like Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl turning in such poor performances.  They both look right in their respective parts, but their egotistical posturing and straightforward delivery make both characters very unlikable.

Looking at the reviews for Rush, I am surprised to see so many are positive.  At the same time, I am not surprised.  Ron Howard has always been liked by the critics. I just don't get it.  I believe there is a hidden group of Film Critic Illuminati who meet every week and decide which films they are going to like.  I haven't been invited, so maybe that's why I'm in the minority on Rush.  Oh well.  Ron Howard will keep making his movies.  I'll keep hoping for more and be disappointed.  Then I'll get to have fun tearing it apart.  I guess that's a good deal.