Touchback

By and large, sports movies are message movies. The game is a metaphor for life, and when a valuable lesson is learned, everything works out. By that definition, Touchback is pretty rote, although it is salvaged by some great scenes from Kurt Russell, excelling—as he does—in the role of a football coach. Ostensibly, Touchback is the story of Scott Murphy (Brian Presley), a one-time high school phenom whose future didn’t pan out after an on-field injury. At his lowest point some 20 years later, Scott wakes up back in high school, with the opportunity to change his future. It’s a pretty cheap way to roll It’s a Wonderful Life into a football flick, but the movie doesn’t suffer from it too much. Russell adds intensity in place of the lackluster Presley, making Touchback one of those agreeable-but-forgettable sports movies.