Review: 'Free Style'
Plot: Earnest young man in Pacific Northwest helps support his single mom and tries to go pro in motocross racing. (PG-13)
Bottom line: Bland ambition - a would-be inspirational sports tale as dull and gray as the setting's weather.
Cast: Corbin Bleu, Penelope Ann Miller, Sandra EcheverrÃa, Jesse Moss, Tegan Moss, Matt Bellefleur, Madison Pettis
Length: 1:34
'Free Style' dreamer is no easy rider
Kidsday video: "Free Style" star Corbin Bleu
When a sports story about following your dreams makes the non-dream backup plan look better - and the backup plan here is "assistant manager at an electronics store" - then we've either got the wrong sport or the wrong combination of story, cast and filmmaker. And since motocross - motorcycle racing on often-muddy dirt tracks with hills, ramps and flying elbows - is a dangerous, high-speed sport with spaceman-style uniforms and rapidly changing elevations, it's probably not the sport.
Corbin Bleu, the best friend in "High School Musical," takes center stage as Cale Bryant, a biracial, Pacific Northwest teen whose father left his mom, Jeanette (Penelope Ann Miller), years ago when Cale's young sister Bailey (Madison Pettis) was born. Regardless, Cale's a polite, well-raised young man who, when not busy at the electronics store, delivers pizzas, takes care of sis while Mom waitresses, and races alongside his bud Justin (Jesse Moss), dreaming of turning pro.
An uncharacteristic angry outburst and a broken window results in Cale's losing his sponsor. Spying a broken-down bike at a horse ranch, he trades work for the fixer-upper, and in the process meets Alejandra Lopez (Sandra EcheverrÃa), daughter of the local Mexican-restaurant mogul.
Cale briefly gets angry with his mom, who turns out to have known the whereabouts of the kids' deserter dad (David Reivers, Bleu's real-life father and a producer of this film), and suffers taunts from rich-boy rider Derek (Matt Bellefleur). Shot in uniformly dull tones and soft focus, with flat line readings, barely competent direction and sports-movie slo-mo cliches, "Free Style" is as misguided as its title: Freestyle motocross (FMX) doesn't even involve racing, just acrobatic stunts.
