Road to Victory (2007)
Road to Victory tells the story of Elliot, a college football star who, after one too many blows to the head, can no longer maintain an erection. Elliot’s embarassment and frustration is compounded when Anna, a fellow student who also happens to be a stripper, falls in love with him. If you didn’t feel like a loser before reading this, let me reiterate the fact that there are guys out there who can’t get it up out there dating strippers, while you’re sitting at home reading this on the Internet. Go you.
Throughout the film’s 100 minute running time we follow Elliot through his journey. Most of the film is split between two major plot tracks: Elliot’s doctor visits (in which he visits a series of sexual dysfunction doctors, all of whom apparently hate him), and Elliot’s relationship with Anna (which essentially consists of her multiple attempts to have sex with him, and his inability to deliver). When Elliot and Anna aren’t in bed together they’re competing for the title of “who can be meaner to the other one.” At different points in the film I was rooting for each one to leave the other. The backdrop to all of this fighting is Elliot’s desire to finish his college football season and get drafted into the NFL.
Taking all things into consideration and especially the fact that this is an independent movie, Road to Victory isn’t a bad film. It’s biggest hurdle will be finding an audience interested both in college football and sexual dysfunction. Like space adventures about abortion or monster movies focusing on divorce, the two topics are such opposites that it may be hard for people who care about one topic to stay interested in the other. It would be like if Reese’s skipped peanut butter and decided to mix chocolate with cheese.
The acting in Road to Victory is on par with other independent movies; it’s not stellar, but it’s good enough to carry the film’s plot forward. On the other hand, the special effects in Road to Victory are simply superb. The DVD’s included special effects reel shows how off the shelf digital editing programs were used to convert day scenes to night, add filled stands to the background of football scenes, and add other visual effects throughout the film. For a low budget film, the effects are spectacular.
If at any point I sounded like I was dumping on Road to Victory, I’m not — it’s a decent film with an original idea and good technical execution. I don’t know that the topic at hand has enough mass appeal to skyrocket Road to Victory into the public’s eye, but with a solid film such as this under Mike Reilly’s belt I expect to see big things from he and his crew in the future.