Full Ride (2002)

Desperately Seeking Even Marginally Talented Actors

Excellent example of the disaster that happens when you combine a challenging script with two actors choosen for physical appeal. It is rare for me to be consciously aware of the acting during the first viewing of a movie because I try to just go with the story and save the analysis for the second viewing. In the case of "Full Ride", the acting was so weak that the movie was impossible to appreciate as a story; I was too busy (during first and only viewing) alternating between laughter and nausea.

Fortunately for most individual members of the cast, pretty much everyone in the ensemble is weak, the individual talent limitations do not contrast with any actual competent acting. Riley Smith and Meredith Monroe are at least well matched physically, finding common ground in looking far too old for the credible age of their characters.

Unfortunately the script requires especially intense and convincing performances to portray their characters which just exposes Smith and Monroe's staggering lack of talent. On the positive side, they know enough to not look directly into the camera and they do not stutter.

Better to have used a less attractive pair who could physically pass for the proper age, better yet a pair with at least some acting ability. The basic story is not particularly original, just another variation on "An Officer and a Gentleman", but it would have provided a nice showcase for a talented pair of "teenage" actors.

Then again, what do I know? I'm just a child.


November 22, 2005

High Quality and Awesome poduction

I remember this movie, it was aired on the WB. High Quality and Awesome poduction. It is a teenage flick and you just get pulled in by everything!

I can't wait to order this DVD, watch it, and know that I was there! Get this DVD and enjoy the same experiences that I loved so much!
April 6, 2005

A Pathetic, Juvenile Movie

I wasn't going to review this, but once I saw 4 positive reviews, I knew I had to. This is without question the worst movie I have ever seen. The storyline is laughable, the acting is atrocious, and the camera work looks like a 2nd grader did it. A high school football player with a drunk mother graduates from high school going nowhere. He robs a house with his friend and is arrested. His punishment is to block for a charity football team. He doesn't fit in from the beginning. The other players hate him, and his attitude ticks off the coach. Not a bad premise. However, it gets worse from there. He falls in love with a girl who works in the cafeteria. She rejects him.
I could go on all day. The point is, Riley Smith is a terrible actor. I didn't believe his character for one minute. Meredith Monroe is even worse. Her voice tone never changes. She is completly monontone the entire movie. We watched this movie in Sociology class, and after one day, our teacher gave up and told us to keep watching it just so we could make fun of it. By the way, even the music they use in the movie sucks. I used to think From Justin to Kelly was the worst movie I had ever seen, but after seeing Full Ride, I could watch From Justin to Kelly nonstop for 3 days. Watching this movie was torture. November 24, 2004

Standing in the crowd!

I first saw this movie while still in the making. Wonder why? Because it was filmed at my college! Dana College of Blair, Nebraska. A quiet little private Luthren college in the middle of a Danish comminuty right on the Nebraska/Iowa border, 20 miles north of Omaha. I was there to see all the actors go at it and even be kept up late b/c of the bright lights used at night right beside my dorm window.

Any way, it was so much fun watching the making of this film, through the many times the actors practiced to talking with people that were made extras. I can point out my friend Jason many times in the movie, because of his distintive bright red hair and beard. Look for him and count how many times you see him.

I loved it when I heard the movie was going to be made there, loved it while they shot their footage, and loved the premiere of it on the WB and watching it with my friends and classmates in the commons room, The Dragons Head.

Riley Smith is a gorgoues boy and I think he did a marvelous job in the film alongside Meredith Monroe. It is a teenage flick, but as everyone else says its worth it to watch, because you just get pulled in by everything!

You know the line in the movie "The Hawaiians?" Thats there because at Dana College we usually get quite a few students every year from Hawaii and everyone usually calls them the Hawaiians. And it's so much fun to watch them at first snow in the winter.

I can't wait to order this DVD, watch it, and know that I was there! Get this DVD and enjoy the same experiences that I loved so much! July 19, 2004

AWESOME!

At first when I picked up this movie I thought, oh geez, it doesnt look every good... ~ but after I watched it I couldn't STOP watching it... Riley Smith is gorgerous..and the whole movie is great.. if you love football, hardwork, and romance.. you'll love this movie!! how exciting!!! May 23, 2004

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