There are many films that all of us see throughout our lives, but only a few leave an imprint. “Free Style” leaves that imprint on me, but a bad one that could be used as an example of what not to do when making a movie. The film tries to cloak itself on the surface as a motorcross sports film while underneath holding layers of other problems including racial prejudice. Everything about this movie is completely executed wrong. From the editing, directing, acting and the script, you wonder who even let this get the greenlight.
We follow Cale Bryant (Corbin Bleu) who has big dreams of being a professional bike racer but works like hell in order to keep his single mom (Penelope Ann Miller) and his little sister (Madison Pettis) afloat with the bills. A decision must be made either to continue helping his family and stay with his girl (Sandra Echeverria) or not when the promise of getting a spot on the pros comes up. The story is highly predictable, as if nobody would guess that everything would turn out right for the hero in the end. The story tries to put in serious subject matter like broken family and racism issues and forces it down your throat. It doesn’t taste too good at all, reaching the point to where you can’t take it seriously anymore and just laugh.
Corbin Bleu’s acting in the film shows that the High School Musical star should take more acting classes before he continues his career. Penelope Ann Miller is haggard in appearance and acting, drawing you to the conclusion that she’s here for a paycheck. Everyone else in the cast is completely forgettable, gone from your memory after the movie is over within the blink of an eye. The movie hits another snag when it prolongs its scenes, going hand in hand with its bland soundtrack. During the most pivotal appearing points of the feature, it continues to play and wishing you can put the whole film on mute.
A quick conclusion comes to me after a certain point watching this that the editor fell asleep on the job or was intoxicated. He blatantly cuts out during inappropriate parts of the film or lets them continue for way too long with no real point. There is no direction that is visible and ends up feeling like a student film project a majority of the time. If Free Style was actually made by a budding filmmaker then it would be some what understandable. What ends up happening is the potential within William Dear is washed away within this mess.
In the end this feature feels like a nightmare more than anything. It’s painful to get through and when it’s over your wiping the cold sweat off your face trying to shake it out of your head.
