Facing the Giants was two different stories. First, there was the scripted story: about a tiny high school’s football team facing down its much larger archnemesis, and about the team’s coach facing down gigantic struggles in his own family’s life. Then there was the story of the movie itself: the tiny, independent, church-based production company winning a theatrical distribution contract with one of the majors—and then the film does a relatively astounding $10 million at the boxoffice, followed by a solid release on DVD. Somewhere, King David was smiling and Goliath was reliving the worst day of his life.
Before there was Giants, there was Flywheel—the first effort from Alex Kendrick and Sherwood Pictures. Where Giants had financing that gave it a professional sheen, even if many of the performances were rough, Flywheel was a true do-it-yourself shoe-string glorified home movie.
And it worked. Kendrick and his church booked Flywheel into local theaters around Albany, Georgia, and it managed to stick for several weekends. Sure, the theaters were rented for the showings, so it wasn’t like folks were just walking in off the street to see it; but the fact remained: Flywheel was getting good word of mouth, and audiences were coming back for more.
Thanks to the follow-on big-business success of Facing the Giants, Flywheel now gets new life in a cleaned-up “director’s cut” DVD release—and I wish I’d seen the original version so I could compare the two. As with Facing the Giants, I found myself enjoying this film in spite of myself, and in spite of the film’s obvious flaws. And I wonder how different the film is now.
The story here is very basic: Jay Austin is a small-time used car salesman whose marriage is headed for the rocks, whose dealership is deep in debt, and whose son has no respect for him. He cuts corners and cheats his customers in order to “make ends meet,” as they say—and his wife and son are wise to his shenanigans. When the bank sets a date to call Jay’s debt, he realizes something has got to change. So instead of trusting to his own “wisdom,” as it were, he decides to try things God’s way. And, amazingly, tossing out pragmatic “common sense” approaches to business and family in favor of managing his affairs with scrupulous integrity turns everything around.
Oh, and along the way, he learns a lesson or two about cars, and how your engine won’t start if your flywheel is broken. But if you fix the fundamentals, everything else follows.
As in Facing the Giants, Kendrick often “breaks the rules” of cinematography (such as “crossing the axis” when cutting scenes), and most of the supporting performances are painfully amateurish; but the last time I checked, that’s the kind of thing that happens when you make a film on a $20,000 budget. I know, because I’ve done that myself.
But I have to admit—Kendrick’s performance as Austin here is quite good. And better yet, Kendrick really does have a knack for telling stories that everyday people are likely to connect to. Here, the main issue is a father’s desperate need for his son’s and wife’s respect, and Kendrick nails it. Sure, the the film drags a little bit in its final third as the blessings from God just seem to pigpile on the Austins. Still, it all rings true to the faith experience.
I don’t think I’d feel I’d gotten my money’s worth if I’d seen this film in the theater. But if you put Flywheel in your Netflix queue, and if you have any sympathy at all for people who find the need to pray, I think you’ll probably like this so much you’ll consider buying it.
