TheOliveGarden My favorite sports movies are human interest stories. What makes us so compelled with sports are humans excelling against the odds and a good sports film embodies all that this entails. They are about the perseverance of the human spirit and overcoming all odds. And they are about people. This is the most relatable format for understanding conflict. The one we were all raised to value and partake in. Through the lens of football, we can also come to understand and find greater empathy for the problems of mental health.And Radio is that beautiful sports film that explores the victories of a team and a gifted boy. And this fills the spirit and heart. Under the premise of sports as human interest, Radio is an excellent piece of empathetic work that we can learn from and through our compassion, maybe we can find the best of ourselves in it.

Adam Foidart "Radio" may be based on a truthful, inspiring story but that only goes so far. It just doesn't seem to me like this was the kind of story that ultimately lends itself to a movie; or if it does this was not the way to do it. It's the story of James Robert "Radio" Kennedy (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.), a mentally disable young man who is fascinated by radios and football and is taken under the wing of the local football team's coach (Ed Harris as Coach Jones).What I really disliked about this movie was that the people here don't feel like people. Now I know that this film is based on true events and all, but it's like the details have been fudged left and right in order to make the film universally appealing. In trying to make it so soft and cuddly, it appeals to no one but the most undiscriminating audience that loves anything football-related. The titular character feels like a Hollywood stereotype of a mentally challenged man: he can do no wrong, is always sweet, is loved by everyone (well, except for the one dimensional villain) and has no personality whatsoever. When he is included in the behind-the-scenes of the school football team he feels more like a pet or a mascot than a real person and the film never really focuses on him, following Ed Harris' character Coach Jones instead of going about the more challenging task of showing us what this town really saw in James Robert Kennedy and giving him a real personality with flaws and all. There is also something off-putting about the fact that the people in the town very rarely call him by his actual name, instead calling him by his given nickname of "Radio" and that we never see any portrayal of the man's brother in the film, almost as if he refused to be included.Overall it does pull at your heartstrings and will likely get some sensitive audiences emotionally involved but the plot is the same one you have seen before: the misunderstood misfit shows the rest of the world that it's important to be more caring and understanding. Oh, if we could just set aside our differences and see those poor outcasts for what they really are: beautiful people that just seem weird on the outside…. well then we could all learn a bit from them and become more beautiful and caring human beings ourselves. This recycled plot combined with the stock villain and the forced, emotionally manipulative story (manipulative to the point where some characters turn into cartoonish villains or saints whenever convenient) that there isn't much to recommend here except for some good performances. (On DVD, November 1, 2012)

sddavis63 The highlights of this film are the two absolutely superb performances by Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ed Harris. Gooding was the title character - James Robert Kennedy, a mentally disabled young man known simply as "Radio" because of his love for radios. Harris played Harold Jones - a local high school teacher who was also coach of the Hanna High School football team and the school's athletic director. The movie is the portrayal of how their relationship develops, with Jones taking the young man under his wing, so to speak, and making him part of both the team and the school community, fighting the efforts of many of the townsfolk and school board officials to have him removed.It's certainly a heartwarming story, although it's not exactly what I'd call a tearjerker, although there are moments when tears might flow (particularly the death of Radio's mother.) There are question raised throughout the movie that are often hard to deal with. One admires Jones' devotion to Radio, but one wonders why he seems unable to show the same devotion to his own daughter. It's great to see Radio becoming gradually accepted as part of the team and school, but the movie doesn't shy away from the question of whether he isn't being treated more as a mascot than anything else - certainly a question that ran through my head on a number of occasions as we watch Radio lead the team on the the field and join the cheerleading squad from time to time. Jones' own personal motivation is finally explained as he relates a childhood experience to his daughter that illustrates why he feels so strongly for Radio. In the end, Radio's place within the life of the school is made more "official" and Kennedy is apparently still roaming the halls and the sidelines of Hanna High as an official 11th Grade student for as long as he wants to be one - this being based on a true story."Based on a true story" always makes me wonder. Kennedy is real, and he's really at Hanna High and he and Jones are really friends, so there's obviously a strong basis in fact for this movie. I wondered, though, about what seemed to be the surprisingly easy acceptance of Radio among the townspeople. Although the whole community was concerned about the on-field performance of the football team, aside from one parent and one school board official, people seemed largely unconcerned about or uninterested in Radio himself - which struck me as a surprisingly bland reaction for a small southern town in the late 1960's to have for a mentally disabled young black man. But clearly it worked long term. I did appreciate that this was about much more than the football team. The football team was the backdrop for what happened, but no more than that. This was't an "underdog overcomes" sports story. The Hanna High team didn't have a great season in this movie; neither Radio nor Coach Jones inspired them to win anything of significance. The football team just became in some ways a microcosm of the community, as they grew more and more accepting of Radio, to the point at which Radio's presence was simply a given.This is a very well done film, one of the better "based on a true story" films I've come across. (8/10)

AshlersLovesYou I started watching this at school a few years ago; our teacher wanted us to understand that everyone was different and there are some people out there who have disabilities. During the beginning of the movie, when I saw Radio riding in a shopping cart looking silly, I remained silent, the remainder of the class began chuckling. As the movie progresses, I had feelings for Radio, he's an innocent man, though not many appreciate him. I loved how Coach Jones was so fatherly to him, and would do whatever he could to make him feel better.This is one of few movies I have seen that have made me start crying. As we found that Radio's mother had tragically died from a heart attack and was gone, I started tearing up. I could feel the pain in Gooding's character as he suffered this terrible thing that has almost destroyed his life.This was a gorgeous movie and helps both young and old to understand and care about those with disabilities.To this day, I continue to fight those with disabilities, this teaches such an important lesson.10/10