Starring Helen Hunt. Rated G

The Iowa City Press-Citizen—the local paper that documented the run of the Iowa City West High School girls’ volleyball team to the 2011 state championship—signed off its report with a poignant line. “Oh Hollywood?” it reads. “Your script is ready.”

It’s true—the story behind The Miracle Season was made for the silver screen. After the sudden death of their captain and star player Caroline “Line” Found right before the season began, the high-school team were faced with the near-impossible task of defending their championship title. Playing with the motto “Win for Line” and, later, “Live like Line”, the girls—with the help of their bullish coach, Kathy Bresnahan (played here by Helen Hunt)—battled emotional and physical strain in pursuit of their goal. The story was placed in the hands of David Aaron Cohen, the scriptwriter behind the memorable (and very similar) film Friday Night Lights. It seemed set for success.

Sadly, The Miracle Season lacks the depth of Cohen’s 2004 offering. That’s almost entirely the result of the film’s saccharine first act. Setting up Line’s character—vivacious and impulsive—by depicting her last days alive, actor Danika Yarosh (Jack Reacher: Never Go Back) is shown driving around pastoral Iowa in a convertible, stuffing multiple slices of pizza in her mouth, and throwing the world’s most PG barn party. Sure, there are real moments of tenderness in her short appearance—climbing into a bed with her mother in the hospital, for one—but, for the most part, Yarosh’s over-the-top interactions quickly become insufferable.

While the team might be rooting for Line, then, the audience isn’t. After her death, her responsibilities fall to her best friend, Kelly (Erin Moriarty from Captain Fantastic, who does a stellar job of depicting her character’s development from shrinking violet to strong leader). Line’s passing allows others to fill the void she’s left behind—but that void, thanks to director Sean McNamara’s overromanticizing of the character, is too big. It’s easy to cheer on a supporting cast that has been previously smothered by a larger-than-life persona. It’s harder to celebrate a fairy-tale princess who hogged the limelight. In a movie predicated on the sadness of her loss, that’s hardly a positive thing.

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