As an old-fashioned sports biopic, Race (2016) is serviceable. IT is exactly what one might expect of such a film: a sepia-toned, self-congratulatory, anti-fascist/racist flick about Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens, however, is sadly overshadowed by familiar beats and 'sophisticated' cliches in this Focus Features slog. An incredible/preternatural athlete and seemingly charismatic individual, Owens is bogged down by white savior narratives and a syrupy bromance with Ted Lasso himself (Sudeikis, before he made a name for himself on the pitch) as the Ohio St. track-and-field coach Larry Snyder.
The film also stars Jeremy Irons as Avery Brundage (the sometimes virtuous/sometimes mercenary head of the Olympic committee), Carice van Houten as Leni Riefenstahl (the famous/infamous director & Nazi propagandist who is given a sugar-coated hagiographic treatment), and Barnaby Metschurat as Joseph Goebbels (perfectly insidious and awful in every way). With so many talented actors and powerful historical source material, Race is not bad by any stretch of the imagination. It is just exceptionally mediocre and ethically dubious at times when it is most trying to virtue signal and coddle modern audiences with bromides and platitudes.
