American Underdog

“American Underdog pines for a fantasy where women, Black men, and a blind kid fawn over a white male Christian ‘underdog.’”

Title: American Underdog (2021)
Directors: Andrew Erwin 👨🏼🇺🇸 and Jon Erwin 👨🏼🇺🇸
Writers: Screenplay by David Aaron Cohen 👨🏼🇺🇸, Jon Gunn 👨🏼🇺🇸, and Jon Erwin 👨🏼🇺🇸 based on the book by Kurt Warner 👨🏼🇺🇸 and Michael Silver 👨🏼🇺🇸

Reviewed by Li 👩🏻🇺🇸

Note: This review was commissioned by Lionsgate. The content and methodology remain 100% independent and in line with Mediaversity's non-commissioned reviews.

Technical: 2.25/5

American Underdog, directed and produced by brothers Andrew and Jon Erwin through their Christian production outfit Kingdom Story Company, is a thoroughly conventional sports drama based on the autobiography of quarterback Kurt Warner. The film caters to viewers looking for the reinforcement of white, male-driven Christian exceptionalism. Mix in thematics like football, country music, veterans, and an “inspirational” disabled child, and you’ve got yourself a buffet of schlocky Americana.

Its predictable beats can feel like slow torture for those seeking one iota of freshness. But if ruminating on the ‘90s through rose-tinted glasses is more your bag, the film does enjoy admirable execution: Sunset cinematography by Kristopher Kimlin and crisp instrumentals from John Debney move the viewer’s emotions down a prescribed path of hope, despair, and triumph. Folks who enjoy this genre of Christian film will no doubt be pleased.

Gender: 2.25/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES, but barely

Various women make an appearance but make no mistake, this is the Kurt Warner (Zachary Levi) show. The Hall of Famer’s wife Brenda (Anna Paquin) does receive a prominent role with plenty of screen time, but she’s utterly defined by the men in her life. On their first date, she introduces her childhood ambitions to Kurt as being married to a Marine man, with whom she’d have little Marine babies as they lived out their years in God country. It didn’t quite work out that way, her first husband having cheated on her, and it’s through her subsequent struggle as a single mom that we see some welcome fight in Brenda. But beyond stereotypical assertions that being a single mother is bad—and getting married to a devout family man is good—there’s not much more for Brenda to do in American Underdog other than root for Kurt from the bleachers.

Race: 2/5

The filmmakers drink from the sweet, sweet nectar of writing token Black friends into a script that concerns itself only with making its white protagonist seem like a good person who isn’t a racist. In its most visible vehicle, Mike Hudnutt (Ser'Darius Blain) serves as a jokey bro in a cowboy hat who teaches Kurt how to line dance. After some convivial early scenes, Hudnutt mostly disappears from the rest of the film, except when he’s called upon for whoops and hollers of support for his boy.

Isaac Bruce (Simeon Castille), a wide receiver for the Rams when Kurt joined the team, also functions as a supporter through brief, passing scenes. And we meet Kurt’s third Black Friend™ as a fellow cashier at the Hy-Vee grocery store. Marshall, played by multiracial actor McKylin Rowe, bonds with Kurt over football—and that’s the extent of his apron-clad character development.

The lack of nuance given to these men culminates in an oblivious late-film montage, when Black male characters appear one after another, faces rapt, watching Kurt rocket to Superbowl success on a TV set in a dingy bar. In this supercut, Marshall stocks magazines at the Hy-Vee when he notices his former coworker on the cover of a magazine. A sports journalist laughingly voices over, “Five years ago, [Warner] was bagging groceries at the Hy-Vee”—a scripting decision that pays no heed to how the juxtaposition might feel depressing to some. Black men like Marshall are still bagging groceries at the Hy-Vee, still hanging out at the same old bars, left behind to blithely root for their white friend in this orchestral sequence that’s meant to make hearts swell with vindication.

Before moving on, though, I would be remiss not to mention a couple instances of colorblind casting. As American Underdog does follow true events, Hudnutt really did room with and befriend Warner at the University of Northern Iowa. Real-world Hudnutt is white, and I’m perfectly fine with the film’s decision to inject a little surface diversity through the casting of Black actor Blain—as well as its casting of Chinese adoptee Hayden Zaller, who passes for white as Brenda’s son Zack. The bigger conversation remains around who gets to receive a biopic at all, and how characters of color are treated within them. In this case, the Erwin brothers handle its Black characters with as much box-ticking as Hollywood has done for decades—a largely inoffensive tokenization, paired with the ongoing insistence that Black women, and other women of color for that matter, don’t exist (despite making up fully 1 in 5 American residents).

Bonus for Disability: +0.25

Brenda’s son Zack, who is blinded after a childhood accident, has the one-dimensional role of being a perfect angel whose life is bettered by the existence and support of Kurt Warner. The inspiration trope comes hard and fast, but look—you’ll never hear me complain about hiring actors who actually live with the condition they portray on screen. In this case, 11-year-old Zaller writes simply in his Instagram bio that he’s “just a kid with a cane,” and he deftly delivers the heartwarming performance asked of him. I can only hope that major studios give this talented young actor the opportunity to shine in stories that serve himself, not just the emotional journeys of nondisabled protagonists.

Mediaversity Grade: D 2.25/5

Perfectly suited for an audience already seeking this type of Christian content, American Underdog pines for a fantasy where women, Black men, and a blind kid fawn over a white male “underdog.” Comforting for some, sure—but unsettling for viewers who hope for a brighter future rather than remain longing for a return to a glorified version of American history that never served their people well.

Like American Underdog? Try these other titles with devout Christian characters.

Grade: DLiFebruary 2, 2022