#meaghan witri

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The Winning Season (2009) Jim Strouse

January 28th 2024

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Rooney Mara (as Wendy #14) Emma Roberts (as Abbie #10) Shareeka Epps (as Lisa #3) Meaghan Witri (as Tamra / Tam-Tam #50) Sam Rockwell (as Bill) From the sports-comedy, THE WINNING SEASON (2009)

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365 Day Movie Challenge (2017) - #363: The Winning Season (2009) - dir. James C. Strouse

As a run-up to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (which I hope to see later this week), I decided to watch the comedy The Winning Season, which stars Three Billboards’ Sam Rockwell (one of my favorite actors, incidentally). Rockwell plays Bill Greaves, a a small-town misfit who was once a high school basketball athlete, now stuck in a rut as a dishwasher in a local restaurant. Pitied by his ex-wife Stacey (Jessica Hecht) and often hated by his teenage daughter Molly (Shana Dowdeswell, who tragically died a few years ago), Bill sees an opportunity to turn his life around when he is hired as the new coach for a local high school’s girls’ basketball team.

Bill constantly butts heads with the determined young women on the team - Abby (Emma Roberts), Tamra (Meaghan Witri), Lisa (Shareeka Epps), Wendy (Rooney Mara), Kathy (Emily Rios) and Mindy (Melanie Hinkle) - as well as the school’s principal, Terry (Rob Corddry), who got Bill the coaching job and who is also Tamra’s father. Hard drinking and a tendency to be tough on other people makes Bill pretty hard to like, but as the story progresses we see that he means well and he grows to genuinely care for the young women who work with him. Even after a DUI puts him in hot water with the school administration, Bill stops at nothing to support his team, leading to a heartwarming finale at the state tournament finals.

As in most “inspiring” sports films, just about everything that happens in The Winning Season is predictable, but that doesn’t stop the film from being entertaining and uplifting. Sam Rockwell is the perfect performer for the central role, ideal for bringing out both the most irritating and the most endearing aspects of the character. The supporting roles are also well-cast, particularly Margo Martindale as Donna, an affable bus driver whom Rockwell recruits to be his assistant coach. Donna encourages the members of the varsity team to feel comfortable in their own skin and to support each other through teamwork, friendship and understanding, principles that Bill also uses to learn and grow in his own life.

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Rooney Mara (as Wendy) Emma Roberts (as Abbie) Meaghan Witri (as Tamra / Tam-Tam) The funny side of Rooney Mara. From the sports comedy movie, THE WINNING SEASON (2009)