Alien at the Movies

McFarland USA

It's "Spare Parts" meets "Friday Nights Lights" when a new hire high school teacher (Kevin Costner) with a questionable past decides to start a cross country running team enlisting 7 boys from migrant worker families. Based on a true story, it's a fish out of water setup as this Caucasian family experiences culture shock in this little Hispanic farming town. Also it's a little engine who could tale where these poor kids with little future learn to believe in themselves and work as a team against some long odds. It's a wonderful family film with great heart that's also about community and breaking stereotypes. At the film's end, a clip runs revealing the real people portrayed and where they are now.

Alien gives it 3 "pickers & runners" stars out of 4.