Once in awhile, a film comes along that has so much heart and earnestness, you can overlook its faults and appreciate it simply for existing. This is true for Sean McNamara's latest film, "The Miracle Season."

The miracle season in question belongs to Iowa City West High School. In 2010, West High won their very first state championship in Women's Volleyball. The following year, just as the season was getting underway, team captain Caroline "Line" Found was killed in an accident. Under the guidance of their also grieving coach, the team pulled together to compete for a back-to-back state championship.

The film, directed by Sean McNamara, tells the story of that devastated team and their improbable season through the eyes of Line's best friend, Kelly (Erin Moriarty), and Coach Kathy "Bres" Bresnahan (Helen Hunt). David Aaron Cohen and Elissa Matsueda wrote the screenplay.

"The Miracle Season" opens on a perfect, beautiful day in Iowa City. In fact, the day is a little too perfect as this introduction to Kelly and Line (Danika Yarosh) feels a lot like a stroll down Sesame Street. Why, there's the Pie Shop Owner, and over there it's the Man from the Print Shop. And what's this? A cute new boy in town (Burkely Duffield)? Line immediately jumps into action, trying to make a love connection between the new boy and her BFF. From these opening shots, we learn that everyone in town knows and loves Line. Even if she can be a bit over the top sometimes.

From these blissful opening moments, we meet Coach Bres, a woman who seems to be going through a divorce, although we never find that out for certain. She gets easily irritate by Line's propensity to act like a teenage girl. Even after tragedy strikes, we see Coach Bres fight to pull the team together. But we never get to explore much of who she is. Is she a generally unhappy person, or was that the byproduct of her failed marriage? Why does she isolate herself from everyone? Is she naturally very shy, or is this a new development? Somehow, Helen Hunt gives us reasons to care about Bres, even if we don't necessarily know why. She possesses a dignity that makes you, like Line, just want to cheer her up a bit.



Erin Moriarty, likewise, does a pretty decent job as Kelly. The character has not only lost her teammate and captain, but her lifelong best friend. Moriarty—who bears a striking resemblance in appearance and manner to Kate Mara—plays her part well. It isn't groundbreaking. This isn't an award-worthy performance, but she's sweet and one can't help but be drawn into her grief.

Although the story belongs to the team, it also belongs to Line's devoted dad, Ernie (William Hurt). And this is another of the film's storytelling issues. Along the way, we learn that Ernie has never missed a game, and also that his wife was sick with cancer. She passed away just after Line. We get moments of him trying to process his grief, but never get much time to sit with him. He yells at a friend that he is angry with God, but the scene seems to come out of nowhere.

And the other problem is the rotating cast of people that just seem to pop in and out of the story at random. Line's siblings, for example. They show up from somewhere out of state for the funeral, then for reasons they return to their lives, leaving their father alone to fend for himself.

Likewise, we see various members of the team. But their names and stories are a jumble as none of them get anything resembling a story arc. They essentially play Sad Teammate Numbers 1-9.

But the thing about this film is that it really does tug at the heartstrings. Even with all of its story issues and its unfortunate lack of character development, this is a story that wants you to love it. It tries. It is earnest in its endearing quality, and you can't help but root for the girls and the town. Even if you don't know a whole lot about them.

There is also the fact that Inspirational Sports Movies are almost always about boys. It is rare to get a film that shows girls getting to compete with girls. Not the token girl on the boy's team. We're talking about a team of girls playing against other teams of girls for their own titles and glory. The world needs more of these stories, and there are a lot of them out there waiting to be told.

In all, "The Miracle Season" isn't a terrible movie. It isn't a great one, but it isn't bad. From a filmmaking stand point, it's not worthy of this extra half star, but any film that evokes genuine tears that don't feel manipulated gets extra credit from me.

GRADE: (★★★)
"The Miracle Season" is distributed by Mirror and is in theaters now.

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