Gary Ross' Seabiscuit gets off to a very bad start, with an irritating voiceover and a plodding 45 minutes of exposition, treating us to the life stories of three mismatched characters, jockey Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire), car mogul and horse owner Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) and silent trainer Tom Smith (Chris Cooper). But as the three come together with the underdog horse Seabiscuit, the movie picks up speed and rattles along at a fine pace, with the required ups and downs. However, Ross (usually a talented writer/director) doesn't handle the great material as well as he could have, adding in too many intrusive voiceovers and historical interludes. The characters and actors are strong enough that the film would have been more successful without Ross setting the scene so much. His script is also not sufficiently strong--the characters of Howard and Smith are never fully realised, and although the two great actors playing them make it watchable enough, you still feel like it's another missed oppertunity. I was more impressed by Maguire: he gives Pollard presence and strength, overcoming cloying dialouge. William H. Macy, however, steals the show once again in a hysterical performance as radio announcer Tick-Tock McGlaughin.
Overall, it's enjoyable enough, the horse races are certainly exciting, and the production values are superb. But there's just a sense of a missed oppertunity here.
*** 1/2