Review: 'American Underdog' is a hokey, yet involving, biography of NFL star Kurt Warner, and the love story behind his improbably rise

Like the NFL Hall of Famer whose unlikely career it chronicles, “American Underdog” on paper shouldn’t work — too hokey, too earnest, too corny, too old-school. Then it starts putting points on the board, and it’s hard to deny the overall effect.

The film introduces us to Kurt Warner as a headstrong college quarterback at the University of Northern Iowa. He’s got a cannon for an arm, but his coach (Adam Baldwin) has to drill him to be more patient and stay in the pocket.

One night at a country bar in Cedar Rapids, he meets Brenda (Anna Paquin), and works up the nerve to ask her out — even learning to like country music, her favorite, so he can line-dance with her. Brenda warns Kurt that she’s a divorced mother of two, whose older son, Zack (Hayden Zaller), is legally blind (the result of the boy’s father dropping him on his head when Zack was 4 months old). Kurt shows hesitation in the face of Brenda’s struggles, and isn’t sure how to pursue the relationship.

Hesitation becomes a pattern in Kurt’s early life. After going undrafted by the NFL, Kurt gets a tryout with the Packers, but a moment of indecision on the field dooms his chances. He returns to Iowa, continues to court Brenda, and tries to figure out a life without football. He even (and this has become part of Warner’s legend) stocks shelves at a supermarket.

Then Kurt gets a visit from Jim Foster (Bruce McGill), a showman and owner of the Iowa Barnstormers, an Arena Football League team. Foster wants Kurt to play for him — but first, Foster must drill Kurt to unlearn what he knows about football, and adopt the fast run-and-gun style of Arena ball. Foster also sweetens the deal, by handing Kurt a $100 bill on the sidelines every time he scores a touchdown. Soon, Kurt has amassed a nice pile of C-notes, which he saves as a nest egg for a home with Brenda and her kids.

An important part of Kurt’s story is that Brenda is a devout Christian and, through his love for her, Kurt becomes one as well. The movie’s directors, brothers Andrew and Jon Erwin (billed collectively as The Erwin Brothers), have made their reputation on Christian-centered dramas — like “I Can Only Imagine” and “I Still Believe” — so the most surprising thing about “American Underdog” is how the Erwins somewhat underplay the Christian message in Kurt and Brenda’s love story.

The last third of the movie retells the part of Kurt’s story that most people already know: His second chance with the NFL, when coach Dick Vermeil (played here by Dennis Quaid) signs him as a backup quarterback for the St. Louis Rams in 1999. When the Rams’ starting QB is injured in a preseason game, Warner takes over — and his impressive rookie season that culminates with a trip to Super Bowl XXXIV.

Levi (“Shazam!”) captures Warner’s on-the-field strengths and his old-fashioned charm, and he’s well-matched with Paquin’s Brenda, a single mom who has learned to guard her heart after having it broken before. Their charm nearly compensates for the narrative imbalance that shortchanges the human story for football action that anybody could look up on YouTube.  

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‘American Underdog’

★★★

Opens Saturday, December 25, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for some language and thematic elements. Running time: 112 minutes.