Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this often-uncomfortable indie drama revolves around a teen boy who hangs out with a dissolute, dying older man who becomes a questionable mentor-father figure (he turns the kid on to alcohol, etc.). The older man, Ray, spends his days smoking, drinking, and dealing with the negative consequences of his actions. Viewers who can look at Ray from a somewhat sophisticated perspective -- he doesn't get obsessed with bitter regrets or the obvious lessons of his bad choices -- won't notice (or miss) the absence of the expected preaching. But teens may not take away the same message. Be ready for frank locker-room language, as well as a false accusation of pedophilia.
Families can talk about how the media depicts father-son relationships. What kinds of emotions (or lack thereof) characterize the way dads and sons deal with each other in movies and on TV shows? How would you describe the two different types of fathers presented in this film? What lessons do you think Dave will learn from both of them, and how will those lessons affect him as he grows up?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Charles Cassady, Jr.
OFF THE BLACK takes its title from baseball slang meaning just outside the strike zone. In other words, a near miss -- kind of like the movie itself. James Ponsoldt's wistful little drama doesn't quite manage to be convincing, but it might just inspire some useful conversations.
Ray Cook (Nick Nolte) is a hard-drinking 57-year-old umpire in a youth baseball league who angers a group of players when he calls a strikeout against pitcher Dave (Trevor Morgan). That night, Dave and some pals vandalize Ray's house; Ray, half-soused and waving a gun, catches Dave and drags him inside. But once he calms down, the older man is surprisingly hospitable, and later Dave goes back to clean up the mess.
Despite the fact that Ray still wants Dave to pay for a car window he shattered, the two strike up a friendship. It seems to fill a need for Dave, whose own father (Timothy Hutton) is withdrawn and heartbroken following his wife's desertion two years earlier, leaving Dave and his little sister to look after themselves. (This points out an inconsistency in Dave's character -- it's unlikely a kid this mature and responsible would ever attack Ray's property in the first place.) It's in Ray that Dave finds an adult who will take him fishing, talk about feelings and past histories (Ray flew missions during two tours of duty in Vietnam), and even introduce him to comradely beer drinking.
But even Dave is shocked when Ray makes him an offer: He'll forget about the broken window if Dave will pretend to be Ray's son at the umpire's 40th high school reunion. Ray explains that he wants to look like a "winner" in front of these classmates that he hasn't seen since the 1960s, but he doesn't tell the boy the whole truth -- leaving out, for example, the grim health prognosis (possibly from Agent Orange) that he just got from his doctor.
If you can imagine either the Walter Matthau or Billy Bob Thornton version of The Bad News Bears strictly pared down to the irascible, pickled, washed-up coach's relationship to one player, it might look something like this. Notoriously hard-living actor Nolte plays nicely off newcomer Morgan. Their banter sustains viewer interest despite an absence of baseball action, supporting characters who come and go arbitrarily, and a sort of question mark hanging over the whole production.
Exactly what life lessons is Dave getting from Ray? Or is it Ray -- a victim of multiple bad choices in a tumultuous life -- who's getting a final-inning redemption via genuinely fatherly moments with a kid who needs some, even if they come from a badly flawed person? Maybe writer-director Ponsoldt is deciding not to preach the obvious, even if what results is kind of a moral muddle.
You might compare Off the Black with another movie that Nolte made around the same time, Peaceful Warrior, in which the actor (with very different mannerisms) portrayed another offbeat mentor -- this time a disciplined, modern-day Zen master who plays guru to a college gymnast. What makes the most effective types of drama about father figures and surrogate sons?
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentSlanderous school-hall talk about a child-molesting relationship between Dave and Ray. Obscene vandal drawings. |
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ViolenceThe main character pulls a gun on some teen vandals. |
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LanguageLocker-room talk. Swear words include "s--t" other crude language includes "dick." |
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Message |
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Social BehaviorDissolute, lying Ray is a poor role model -- so bad that a judge took away his own son -- despite the fact that he attempts to offer some worthy life lessons (mostly vague statements about following your "inner voice"). Dave seems like a good, steady kid, but he commits an act of vandalism, and it's suggested that he'll ultimately desert his own heartbroken father (unless Ray's example changes his mind). |
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CommercialismProduct cameos include the infamous Ginsu knife infomercial. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoA woman who's an insulin-dependent diabetic talks about being mistaken for a junkie. Ray is drunk much of the time, and many paternal heart-to-heart chats happen over cans and bottles. Ray gets underage Dave to drink for the first time. Ray also smokes and chews tobacco, despite a dire health prognosis. |
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