The Slaughter Rule

This indie film stars Ryan Gosling who is always incredible. He plays Roy, a high school kid who suffers the twin traumas of his father's suicide and being cut from the school football team. A local man who is a disgraced former high school coach recruits him to quarterback a six-man team. The coach, David Morse, is a wounded soul with intimacy problems who is a pedophile. He makes a couple of abortive, awkward advances on Roy, but they continue to have a relationship. The plot is more of a series of emotional kicks in the stones to Roy. The filmmaking is really amateurish. Bad lighting, sloppy camerawork. And aside from Gosling, Morse and Clea Duvall the acting is pretty awful. Amy Adams has a brief appearance, but doesn't have much to do. It's worth watching if only for Gosling and Morse scenes together. They are two actors that have a lot of intensity, yet they remain grounded in character.