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 THE 5TH QUARTER |
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| Featuring: Aidan Quinn, Andie MacDowell, Ryan Merriman, Jillian Batherson, Andrea Powell |
| Director: Rick Bieber |
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Distributor: 20th Century Fox |
| DVD release: 20 September 2011 |
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Runtime: 96 min.
(1 disc) |
| Format: AC-3, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen, Blu-ray |
| DVD features: 1080p High Definition, Aspect ratio 1.85:1, Audio tracks (English - DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1), Subtitles (English SDH, French, Spanish), The Making of The 5th Quarter
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The 5th Quarter is the true story of a family who loses their youngest son in a tragic car crash and the impact of his death on the lives of the various family members - particularly the older son (Ryan Merriman, Final Destination 3 ), who plays college football for Wake Forest. Andie MacDowell plays the mother of the sons (Maryanne Abbate) and Aidan Quinn plays the father (Steven Abbate) in a film with undertones similar to Fireproof (Kirk Cameron, 2008).
I love sports movies, especially ones that are based on true stories, and I had high hopes for The 5th Quarter. However, it did not come close to fulfilling my hopes. As often is the case, direct-to-DVD movies often try to capitalize on the success of a similar, more mainstream movie - in this case, The Blind Side . And - as also is often the case - they disappoint for a variety of reasons.
While the storyline is emotionally moving (certain scenes are probably some of the most emotional I've seen in a long time), the film fails to establish a strong connection between the tragic loss of a teenage boy and the success of a college football team. Granted, the older brother is a member of that college football team, but more time is spent on how he deals with the loss of his younger brother than the football team itself - so much so that the college football scenes seem out of place.
The storyline definitely has potential - it just needed to be told in a different way.
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