Quickie Movie Review: "Breaking the Press"

Rated: PG for brief teen partying, sensuality, some language, and thematic elements
Starring: Drew Waters, Farah White, and Tom Maden
Released: September 20, 2011 (DVD)

Synopsis
Joe Conaghey (Drew Waters, Friday Night Lights) is the head basketball coach at small-town Woodrow Wilson high school.  Both of his adopted sons are star players, but Josh has a natural talent, though his self-centered lifestyle gets in the way of him being a team player.  When Josh has the opportunity to leave home and play for a school in Dallas, it seems great...but the temptations prove to be too much for him to endure.  Will he find his way back to his family? Will his family accept him? Packed with drama and on-the-court action, Breaking the Press is inspired by the Biblical parable of the Prodigal Son.

My Review
It seems that Christian cinema has become big business as of late; it attracts mainstream talent and even gets acclaim from some secular critics.  Even though sports isn't really my thing, I found the narrative compelling and the production values to be mostly great, though the sports sequences were a little too frenetic, and the acting at times could have been better.  Still, the themes in this film make it not for the VeggieTales crowd; this may not be as hard-edged as To Save a Life, but it comes close; see below for why.

Content Concerns

• Sex: An abstinence plan is discussed.  Several couples are seen kissing.  A teenage girl makes sexual advances on a guy. 3.5/5
• Nudity: A party scene has several girls in bikinis; other girls, and one woman, are seen in outfits that reveal leg or cleavage. 3.5/5
• Language: Two uses each of one b-word and the d-word; God's name is misused once, and the term "butt" is heard. 3.5/5
• Violence: Some of the sports action is a bit rough-and-tumble, especially when name-calling leads to a fight on the court.  Another scene shows the two brothers fighting. 4/5
• Drugs: Underage drinking is shown at a party, and high schoolers are shown smoking.  A boy is offered a bag of cocaine, and a storefront advertises "tobacco". 3/5
• Frightening/Intense Scenes: It is shown that a boy's possessions are stolen.  Some of the scenes are emotionally intense. 3/5

Score: 4/5