Touchback

How many times have we thought to ourselves, "If I could only go back and do things again..."?

Even if you are a firm believer in everything happens for a purpose and you live life with no regrets, surely the thought has crossed your mind. In the new inspirational film, Touchback, one man gets that very opportunity to do it all again. But as we have seen before, he soon has to decide if different really is better.

Scott Murphy (Brian Presley) had his whole life in front of him. A good looking senior in high school and the star quarterback. His life was destined for fame and success. Everyone knew that he would get out of that small farming community and live the good life. But one life changing decision in the last game of the season sidelined it all. Now 15 years later he is out of shape, out of money, and many would say out of luck. Then one day he wakes up and finds he is back in school and has a chance to do it all over again.

As with most fairy tale adventures like, It's a Wonderful Life, Touchback has to be watched with an open mind. Most of us would not function well mentally if we found ourselves 15 years in the past. That or we would spend all our time making bets on all the famous sporting events, or buy up Google stock. But for our main character he has to focus on the decisions that made his path what it ended up being.

Most of the wisdom in the film comes from Scott's high school coach (Kurt Russell). Like all inspirational sports films there is always the nuggets from the coach. Coach Hand does his best to steer Scott in the direction that was always intended. Like he says in the film, "The future is a just a bunch of what you do right now, strung together". In the real future Scott has a wonderful wife (Melanie Lynskey) and three adoring kids. Is all that really worth giving up in order to live the life he thought he wanted? Or can he have it all?

The cast in this film are all spot on. Presley is an actor who relied on his strong spiritual faith to grab onto the character of Scott and grapple with some of the questions like, why do bad things happen to good people. Lynskey is always adorable and the perfect choice for the small town wife we see here. Russell still has the chops to be gruff and loving at the same time. He is a long way from Snake Plissken but again, we can't keep looking back.

Touchback is Rated PG-13 for some mature thematic elements. There is certainly nothing offensive in this film. It is full of life lessons and inspirational moments that stand firm and timeless. For those always complaining that Hollywood never releases anything with wholesome goodness, here is a film you can certainly embrace. I give it 3.5 out of 5 deep passes. Not a perfect film but one with a solid cast and conversation stirring messages.

Review copyright 2012 Mungleshow Productions. Used by Permission.