Prefontaine

After scoring with the documentary Hoop Dreams, director Steve James has run out of steam with Prefontaine, a fictionalized account of the short life of outspoken '70s track star Steve Prefontaine. Call me a moron, but when the movie began with documentary-style interviews of people remembering Prefontaine, I didn't realize these were actors and not the actual people until Ed (Married with Children) O'Neill came on screen as an assistant track coach. You'd think this beginning would give the film an added touch of realism, but it just doesn't jive with the rest of the movie -- a poorly acted, cheesily scripted narrative that feels more like the ABC Movie of the Week than a big-screen release.

Like a TV-movie, Prefontaine deals with some important issues -- namely the killing of much of the Israeli team at the '72 Olympic games in Munich -- in Cliffs Notes fashion. But the film is no more superficial than the hero himself -- an arrogant, selfish, self-centered baby to whom personal gain is not just the most important but the only thing in life. Still, we're supposed to love him. After all, he's got a higher purpose in life than being a decent human being: winning track meets. At the Copley Place and in the suburbs.

-- Mark Bazer