Rally Caps drops on Prime and Disney+ September 10

The appeal of sports is largely lost on me. Growing up, I was an indoor kid. While my father hoped for a strapping young man who would toss around the ol’ pigskin with him, what he got was a committed uber geek. When he lustily cheered his beloved Denver Broncos and cast a hopeful eye to me, I replied with, “Nah, I’m gonna go watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan again.”

As I got older, time and experience changed a few things. I became a parent. Friends became parents. A good chunk of those parents had sports-minded kids, and in listening to both of those parents and kids, I had a greater awareness of why athletics and team sports mattered to them.* 

Best case scenario, sports can foster a sense of community, ethics, and decency. Those are all virtues our country could do with more of, but is our country still fundamentally interested in those virtues? Perhaps. The new family film Rally Caps makes an encouraging case for the social benefits of sports, and does so with sincerity and heart.

We’re introduced to Jordy (Carson Minniear), a boy who’s going through a lot. His father has died, and his mother Nora (Amy Smart) and grandfather Herb (Judd Hirsch) do their level best to provide him with love and stability. They do great work, but the fact remains that Jordy needs something else, something of his own.

That something is baseball. The love of the game was passed down from Jordy’s father, and has fully bloomed within him. Jordy knows teams, players, stats, the whole shebang. He thinks he could play himself on a Little League team, and he thinks he might have what it takes to be a crack pitcher. He just wishes his Dad were still around. He just wishes his older brother Rob (Ben Morang) and his mother hadn’t become estranged during the funeral. 

Things become even less stable for Jordy at Little League tryouts. His nose is accidentally broken. Physical recovery takes time, yet his confidence is damaged even further. He can’t shake the shock, the memory of the pain, and the fear that it will happen again. Jordy’s world shrinks to school, his room, and the inside of his head.

Nora and Herb have a plan. They send Jordy to the bustling Camp Belgrade, a sports camp with a particular focus on baseball. They hope that Jordy will reconnect with older bro Rob, who’s got a coaching job at the camp, and rediscover his passion for baseball. More important is his new friendship with Lucas (Colten Pride), who helps Jordy learn that an injury or disability doesn’t have to define him.

A film aimed at kids and families doesn’t have to be lightweight. Movies where there’s a message of “Be yourself or whatever!” paired with “That just happened!” style jokes create a compelling argument for a childfree lifestyle. Luckily, Rally Caps is not that. Director Lee Cipolla has made a sun-dappled film that occasionally dips a bit into darkness.** While there are a few gags here and there, Cipolla has made a drama about a kid dealing with genuine anxiety. His pacing is expertly controlled, and within the film’s one hundred minute run time, he hits the gas when needed and slows down for necessary character beats. It bears mentioning that, for a modestly budgeted feature, Rally Caps is a good looking feature. Cipolla allows the landscapes and sets to do heavy lifting, a strategy that could be utilized far more in blockbuster filmmaking.***

Cipolla adapted his screenplay from the novel by Stephen J. Cutler and Jodi Michelle Cutler. I have no idea if the adaptation is faithful, and, truthfully, I don’t care. What matters is the script’s open sincerity and compassion toward the characters. In fact, it shares a tone with Judy Blume’s eye for detail and age-appropriate approach to life events. I’ve written before that sincerity is not especially beloved these days, and it’s usually hidden behind a sturdy wall of snark. That’s not the case here. We get a clear and honest look into Jordy’s feelings and the sometimes messy relationships he deals with. The characterization is treated with warmth and compassion. Even a character who, at first glance, seems to be nothing more than a stereotypical bully, is given shading to show why he behaves the way he does. Considering that the film is less plot-focused and more focused on a character study, it feels like the smart choice.

I don’t usually make it a habit to critique child actors, but it bears mentioning that Carson Minniear does strong work as Jordy. He’s quietly charismatic, and when he’s called upon to be emotional, he sells his feelings without going over the top. I liked the laid-back warmth from Amy Smart as Nora, and the good-natured crustiness from Judd Hirsch as Herb. Perhaps the strongest performances come from Ben Morang and James Lowe. As Rob, Morang carries resentment toward both his parents and his little brother. Morang doesn’t play Rob as a surly jerk, but of more of a raw nerve. As for Lowe, he plays Jerry, the camp’s coach and head counselor. He’s overtly playing a rollicking goofball, but watch how Lowe subtly dials up and down Jerry’s silliness. He shows us how observant Jerry is, and how he uses goofy humor as an effective tool.

Somewhere, a kid is going to watch Rally Caps, hopefully with their family. They’ll see a kid who looks or acts a little like them, who feels more than a little like them, and who resolves trauma in a way that’s healthy and within reach. While it might be a reach, even an indoor kid with zero interest in sports can take something away from this smaller film with an enormous heart.

*I still don’t care about sports. While trying to make conversation, a fellow parent asked me, “You think the Broncos will go all the way this year?” I replied, “All the way to where?”

**It’s age-appropriate darkness. Cipolla isn’t saying, “What about I Saw the Devil or A Serbian Film, but for kids?”

***I’m looking at you, MCU. 

Tim Brennan Movie Critic

Tim has been alarmingly enthusiastic about movies ever since childhood. He grew up in Boulder and, foolishly, left Colorado to study Communications in Washington State. Making matters worse, he moved to Connecticut after meeting his too-good-for-him wife. Drawn by the Rockies and a mild climate, he triumphantly returned and settled down back in Boulder County. He's written numerous screenplays, loves hiking, and embarrassed himself in front of Samuel L. Jackson. True story.