I decided to watch this movie which was so funny yet heartbreaking at the same time, it stars Melissa Rauch as this horribly self-entitled, foul-mouthed and mean former Olympic gymnast named Hope Ann Greggory. Rauch did a wonderful job with this role because as much as I found Hope to be a total jerk I couldn't help feeling bad for her and not to mention rooting for her to get her life together. Something I couldn't help noticing is that Sebastian Stan really excels at playing these douchebag characters. He has played so many of them that he must have perfected it.
Hope is what would be considered a has been, it's been years since she won her bronze medal but in her small hometown of Amherst, Ohio, she's a rock star. And she takes every chance she gets to milk it for everything it's worth. However, there's a problem, she has no job and her dad Stan (Gary Cole) who loves her dearly is fed up with giving her money. Her father who is nearing the point of retirement from his job as a postal worker, would like her to get a job and to stop stealing money from the mail in his mail truck. Her life is a complete mess yet she's too blinded by her delusions that she's still a star to move on to the next phase of her life.
That next phase would be coaching yet there is no way Hope is going to do that. But when an opportunity comes up for her to train the town's rising star Maggie Townsend (Haley Lu Richardson) is she going to be capable of letting go of the limelight to step up to be the best coach ever?
She didn't take the training seriously at first until Lance Tucker (Sebastian Stan) a former gymnast who is now a coach tried to steal her client away. That was just the incentive she needed to get her motivated to make a star out of Maggie. It's not all about the training, there is a bit of romance for Hope when assistant trainer Ben "Twitchy" Lawfort (Thomas Middleditch) expressed his interest in her. However, a drunken moment with Lance may ruin things between her and Ben.
This movie surprised me because although I was expecting the humor I wasn't expecting it to be so moving. What I like about The Bronze is that Hope is not perfect and she's far from being likeable, she's completely flawed which is not something you always get to see with female characters. Her behavior and actions are of a fading star trying to hold on to an accomplishment earned as a teenager. That one thing has come to define her and in a way she had not grown into being an adult. She is so stuck in that moment that she even wears her USA red, white and blue warm up tracksuit all the time.
I've seen some of the ratings and reviews for this movie and it didn't get as much love as I thought it should. Yes, the humor is crass, the characters are a little wacky and not to mention that there is an hilarious over the top sex scene (by the way this is rated R) but that's the beauty of this movie. It might be wrapped up in raunchy humor but it has a touching story. Overall, this is a story about the transformation of a spoiled former athlete who finally got that much needed reality check but gained a tremendous amount of growth.
