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Possums

1999, Movie, NR, 97 mins

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The Novata High School football team has an unbroken record; they haven't won a game in 25 years. Thanks to this dry spell, the town's Mayor plans to sell the school playing field to store developers, and everyone's abandoned the Nowata Possums except diehard gridiron enthusiast Will Clark (Mac Davis). Refusing to give up hope, Clark pays for air-time to deliver improvised radio broadcasts of fictitious games in which the Possums actually win! Despite annoying the real state champions, Will develops a cult following with this fantasy play-by-play coverage and turns the town's naysayers into ardent boosters. But the Possums still need to rebuild team confidence and the Mayor still has plans for progress. Scoring yardage but no touchdown, this low-budget, low-key paean to sports incorporates Americana and folksy humor into an uplifting, albeit predictable, saga about team spirit. Taking their cue from the unruffled Mac Davis, the players don't strive for cheap laughs at the expense of their simply drawn characters. All the conflicts are cut-and-pasted from other jock-strap movies like HOOSIERS, but they're reassembled here with skill and heart. Can dreaming (with all your being) translate into reality? It can in this American heartland located somewhere between a field of dreams and the Super Bowl leave a comment --Robert Pardi
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