Posted: Wed., Jan. 21, 2009, 4:20pm PT

Sundance

The Winning Season

By Justin Chang

'The Winning Season'
• All Sundance Coverage

A Lionsgate (in North America/U.K.) release of a Gigi Films and Plum Pictures presentation. Produced by Gia Walsh, Kara Baker, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Celine Rattray, Galt Niederhoffer. Executive producers, Pamela Hirsch, Sam Rockwell, Joseph C. Grano, Andrea Grano, Daniel Crown, Nick Quested, Reagan Silber, Jeanne O'Brien, David Sweeney, Jamie Carmichael, Erick Kwak. Co-producers, George Paaswell, Riva Marker, Joy Goodwin. Directed, written by James C. Strouse.

Bill - Sam Rockwell Abbie - Emma Roberts Lisa - Shareeka Epps Kathy - Emily Rios Wendy - Rooney Mara Tamra - Meaghan Witri Mindy - Melanie Hinkle Donna - Margo Martindale Terry - Rob Corddry Molly - Shana Dowdeswell

A pathetic girls' basketball team becomes a force to be reckoned with in "The Winning Season," and, in a similar fashion, this umpteenth underdog sports comedy rebounds from a rough opening stretch to become an affecting and unusually grounded example of the genre. With an invaluable assist from Sam Rockwell, hilarious and wounding as a deadbeat dad who lands a high school coaching gig, it's the rare inspirational movie with more than just winning or losing on its mind. Lionsgate pickup can't help but at least outperform scribe-helmer James C. Strouse's previous Sundance entry, "Grace Is Gone."

Indeed, "The Winning Season" comes as a refreshing change of pace after Strouse's 2007 Iraq War weepie, with which it has little in common besides an abiding interest in the often frayed relationships between fathers and daughters. Rockwell plays Bill, a divorced, hard-drinking busboy who's become increasingly estranged from his teenage daughter Molly (Shana Dowdeswell), whom he sees once a week. But Bill gets a shot at redemption when his friend Terry (Rob Corddry), a newly minted high school principal, offers him a job coaching girls' varsity basketball.

Bill reluctantly agrees, but soon regrets his decision when he meets the girls he'll be coaching. They're not all that impressive at first, either as athletes or as developed characters: There's perky Abbie (Emma Roberts); gangly, feminist Tamra (Meaghan Witri); Mindy (Melanie Hinkle), who spends the entire season with a broken foot; Wendy (Rooney Mara), who has a thing for older men; and Lisa (Shareeka Epps, "Half Nelson"), the team's sole black player, who spends most of her time antagonizing the team's sole Latina player, Kathy (Emily Rios).

Bill makes no secret of his contempt for the girls, and they have no problem giving him attitude in return or pointing out his frequently sexist courtside language. But as the team steadily improves -- Bill turns out to be one hell of a coach -- the girls become not surrogate daughters so much as sympathetic advisers, encouraging Bill even when his relationship with Molly completely deteriorates.

Strouse's script is a raggedy affair, but its untidiness is in some ways a measure of its integrity, and its awareness that even a winning season will not protect the girls from the difficulties of the real world. While the pic sometimes overreaches -- a racist exchange on the court rings especially false -- it also touches, in a surprisingly honest, unforced manner, on issues such as alcoholism, adolescent sexual confusion and broken homes.

Balancing his solo turn in the concurrent Sundance entry "Moon," Rockwell anchors this ensemble comedy with a terrifically likable portrayal of an often unlikable character; for all his boozy, self-pitying rage (see also "Snow Angels"), the actor never skimps on laughs. The young actresses provide serviceable support with no standouts, but Margo Martindale has a lovely, surprising role as bus driver Donna, whom Bill intuitively hires as assistant coach despite the fact she knows nothing about the sport.

The framing and editing of the basketball sequences is rudimentary at best, but Strouse does find at least one nifty visual tactic that comes into play in a game's final seconds. Other tech credits are OK.

Camera (35mm-to-HD), Frankie DeMarco; editor, Joe Klotz; production designer, Stephen Beatrice; art director, Matthew Munn; set decorator, Cristina Casanas; costume designer, Vicki Farrell; sound, Ken Ishii; supervising sound designer/re-recording mixer, Lewis Goldstein; visual effects supervisor, John Bair; visual effects, Guerilla FX; line producer, George Paaswell; associate producer, Mikki Rosenberg; assistant director, Curtis A. Smith; casting, Kerry Barden, Paul Schnee. Reviewed at Sundance Film Festival (Premieres), Jan. 19, 2009. Running time: 100 MIN.