MCOM 1003 - Carlin Whaley

Term 2 Paper

Carlin Whaley

Professor Reppert

Mass Communication

September 22, 2020

Movie Theater Experience

 

       Movie dates are always a great time for my family.  The last movie that we went to watch as a family was The Way Back.  This was a birthday family outing for my sister, Alex.   We were searching for movies that were out the second week of March since it was around my sister’s birthday. Upon searching the movies on the theater website, we discovered The Way Back which featured Ben Affleck. After viewing the movie trailer, it looked like it would be something that our family would enjoy.  We are a big sports family and were very excited about seeing this basketball themed movie together.

    Our movie adventures often include a matinee movie and a late dinner in Texarkana. We selected to go to the Cinemark theater. This is a really nice theater that offers great amenities for the customers.  We enjoyed our usual large tub of popcorn with extra butter, Dr. Peppers, watermelon Sour Patch Kids, and Milk Duds.  The concessions at the Cinemark offer a great variety at a costly price.  I think our concessions cost as much as our matinee tickets.  This was interesting timing in the fact that it was the weekend that many things were beginning to close due to the Coronavirus.  There were limited people at the theater on this date of March 14.  It presented a much different experience than the normal crowds that we would have encountered at the theater.  I would say at most there were about 20 people in attendance of the movie.  There was a mixed demographic background made up of Caucasian and black individuals.  

   

    With most sports themed movies, I normally anticipate themes of teamwork and they are typically motivating.   Ben Affleck is a well-known actor that led me to think that this would be a really good movie.  As the movie unfolded, it turned out to be a fairly slow and somewhat somber movie.  I think that my sister actually fell asleep during the movie.  The movie focused on Ben Affleck as the main character, Jack Cunningham.  He worked a construction job and was separated from his wife.  He lived in a very ran down apartment and drank way too much alcohol.  He frequented a local bar and would often have to be taken home each night by someone else from the bar.  He was a standout basketball player from a local Catholic school that had been offered a full-ride to Kansas.  He did not attend mainly due to issues that he had with his own father.  The school called him up one day out of the blue and offered him a job as the head basketball coach for his alma mater.  He took the position and really turned the program around.  He made an impact on several players and helped them develop in their game and personal lives.  He continued to drink and hid this from the school and team.  He did have a period of time that his drinking slowed down.  As the movie progressed slowly, the audience learned that his marriage and drinking problems stemmed from the loss of his young son to cancer.  He and his wife remained close with another family that they had met during the time that their son was sick and at the hospital.  The other child that had cancer got very sick and this visit to him caused the coach to relapse back to his drinking habits.  This led to him being fired from his job during a very important part of the basketball season for his team.  He did agree to go to a residential rehab center to get help for his alcoholism and depression.  Several scenes at the rehab involved his wife and other family visiting and progress towards healing appeared to be made.  The movie ended with him listening to the team’s playoff game on the radio.  The commentators praised the coach for turning around the program and leading them to the playoffs.  The final scene was of the coach on a basketball court shooting hoops while the game commentary played in the background.  Overall, this was really not at all what I was expecting of the movie.  It had a good story, but I was expecting upbeat and fun.  This left me and my family in kind of a down mood.  I guess that I would say that in the end it had a happy ending.  Yet, the main parts of the movie had a sad and very emotional tone. 

    I did not really see any product placements that stood out to me.  The only thing noticeable was he consistently drank the same brand of beer and it was always stocked in his refrigerator and cooler.  I don’t remember the exact brand.  My initial thought that this would be targeted towards those that are into sports related movies.  Yet, this movie was definitely deeper and spoke to many issues including alcoholism, depression, grief, loss, finding your way back, motivating young people to be better, and much more.  I would guess that many would have selected this movie based on the trailer for the same reasons of those of me and my family.  We left there not really enjoying the movie as we had anticipated something totally different.  Yet, in looking back at the experience and movie now, I realized that I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I did as I was exiting the theater on that day.  It was a really good movie.  It was just very different than what I had anticipated from the trailer.  The overall production and quality of the movie was good.  It was filmed in California.  I do think it kind of had the same vibe as The Good Will Hunting.  I may just think this because I have this comparison in my head because Ben Affleck starred in both of these movies.

    In reviewing my final thoughts, I do think it was worth the price of the ticket.  I think our family was looking for a more upbeat movie experience for my sister’s birthday and it left us feeling a little let down.  Yet, as stated previously, in reflection it was a good movie that had a message that would help others that were struggling with some of the same issues in their lives