A horse is a horse, of course. If only grand scenes of graceful racing steeds were enough alone to sustain a major motion picture.
Whenever the four-legged title star has center screen, “Secretariat” hits its stride. But it goes lame when the two-legged characters take the lead, which is much too often in today’s talky crowd pleaser about 1973’s famous Triple Crown champ.
Randall Wallace, known previously as a screenwriter, directs with a heavy hand a script by Mike Rich, one full of long, earnest monologues. Other than beautiful cinematography of thoroughbred horses in repose and in action, the chief virtue of this Walt Disney Pictures production is its family-friendliness. Hollywood offers far too few wholesome, affirmative, nonanimated PG options like this with appeal for everyone from Junior to Great-Grandma.
Today’s equine biopic, reportedly inspired by William Nack’s book “Secretariat: The Making of a Champion,” comes off as part underdog sports drama and part Lifetime Movie tribute to girl power. It’s as much about a determined housewife winning her way into a traditionally male-dominated domain as it is about a superfast chestnut colt.
Nicknamed “Big Red,” Secretariat apparently succeeds because of the willingness of owner Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) to take enormous personal and financial risk. She gets him by luck, refuses to sell the initially questionable foal, and then helps him reach beyond his potential against all odds.
The demure wife and mother Penny breaks ground for womankind when her father (Scott Glenn) becomes ill. In defiance of her controlling husband, Hollis (Dylan Baker), doubting brother Jack (Dylan Walsh) and the stuffy gentlemen who control horse racing, she takes over the family horse farm (Meadow Farm in Caroline County, Va.), finds the perfect trainer, Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich), and turns her prized pony into a legend.
The rest, as they say, is history. Unfortunately, people already know Secretariat wins. So the three races of the Triple Crown, which anchor the film’s second half, lack some suspense.
Another problem: Although Lane is great at portraying passionate leading ladies in the throes of romantic agitation (“Walk on the Moon,” “Unfaithful”), she seems less capable at working a reserved protagonist like Penny. Luckily, Malkovich brings vitality to another of his cranky eccentric characters to offset her affected performance.
All in all, it’s a little “yea” but a bit more “neigh” for “Secretariat.”
