The Senior (Christian Movie Review)
Earnest and heartfelt, The Senior is an enjoyable sports film that never loses the heart of its inspirational human story, even while following a conventional genre template.
About the Film
Football season is in session, and the millions of people glued to their screens every weekend affirm the quote in The Senior that “There’s no such thing as just football.” Sports are all about human drama, and nothing says drama quite like an athlete who defies the odds to accomplish something unprecedented. Earnest and heartfelt, The Senior is an enjoyable sports film that never loses the heart of its inspirational human story, even while following a conventional genre template.
Based on a remarkable true story, Mike Flynt is a 59-year-old former lineman who returns to finish his senior year of college football after having been expelled due to his uncontrolled temper. The real Mike Flynt provides a short introduction to the film, which lends the story some weight. But this is a Hollywood drama, not a documentary, so the film takes some creative liberties.
The Senior’s playbook is short on surprises, yet most audiences watch sports flicks not for shocking plot twists but for the feel-good vibes—and The Senior has feel-good vibes aplenty. If I had read a beat-by-beat description of the plot ahead of time, it likely wouldn’t have impacted my enjoyment of the film, since the true cinematic power is in experiencing those moments. The audience knows the protagonist will defy the odds, but watching him do it still feels good.
The Senior is amusingly self-aware. At one point, a teammate remarks that Flynt is like “a 59-year-old Rudy” (a reference to the classic 1993 underdog football film starring Sean Astin). Later, Flynt and a teammate debate the best football movies, referring to different versions of The Longest Yard (a clever way to showcase the generational divide). The Senior is not likely to find itself included in future discussions of the greatest football films of all time. But much like it’s plucky, resilient protagonist, it manages to do just enough to energize the crowd.
In his pre-movie welcome, the real Mike Flynt remarks, “Today I hold love, God, and family dearest. And you’re about to see a movie about all three.” Noticeably absent from the list is “football.” In one sense, despite featuring all the conventional hallmarks of the genre, The Senior is not really about football at all. In fact, Flynt doesn’t appear in a football game until more than an hour into the runtime. Rather, The Senior tells the redemptive journey of a man who happens to be a football player.
What sets this story apart from other sports films is the protagonist’s age. Sports are increasingly becoming a “young man’s game.” Thus, most sports movies feature young heroes. The Dennis Quaid-led Disney baseball film The Rookie took a similar approach, although he was a spry 35-year-old at the time of his debut. While Hollywood continues to cherish perpetual youth (with older guys like 63-year-old Tom Cruise still acting and looking young), there is something undeniably refreshing about a story told from the perspective of an older hero.
Speaking to his younger teammates, Flynt remarks, “We’re not defined by our success. We’re defined by our regrets. And I’ve had a ton of them.” Flynt’s story works largely due to the performance by actor Michael Chiklis (The Thing from 2005’s The Fantastic Four). Chiklis is fantastic, balancing his character’s hotheaded enthusiasm and raw vulnerability in a way that makes his character sympathetic, despite his flaws. His character growth is not a straight line. His come-to-Jesus moment is followed by his worst outburst toward his wife. Chiklis captures his character’s raw humanity, and the film shows restraint by not rounding out the sharper edges of his journey. As a young teammate says, “Well, at least you’re an old-timer who don’t know all the answers.”
Cinematically, there is nothing flashy about The Senior. Most of the action occurs in dim lighting designed to conceal the shortcomings of the film’s modest budget. Filming sports action is notorious tricky, and the on-field football scenes are mostly uninventive. For better or worse, The Senior is all about the narrative, with the cinematography merely providing a vehicle for that story. It may not offer the most impressive cinematic display, but the film’s heartfelt story about redemption and second chances doesn’t need much flourish to shine. In fact, the simplicity of the filming lends the story a degree of intimacy and authenticity that may have otherwise been lost amid bombastic Hollywood-ized spectacle.
In the end, The Senior is imperfect, but it contains a crucial ingredient that many Hollywood films lack: a story worth telling. The film features enough crowd-pleasing moments and human drama to satisfy viewers, whether they love football or not. Some Christian audiences may wish for a deeper exploration of Flynt’s faith, but its wholesome message about redemption and second chances makes The Senior an easy film to support.
For Consideration
Language: Two profanities (“a—” x2).
Violence: A stern father is shown teaching his child to box in order to “man him up,” and he threatens to give the boy “a whooping” if he disobeys.
Sexuality: Mike Flynt jokes to his wife about getting a “hot roommate” when he returns to college.
Engage The Film
Second Chances
The Senior is all about redemption and second chances. Flynt’s historic comeback is not merely about a second chance at football but a second chance at life—at being a better man, husband, and father. In many ways, the football field is just an extension of the challenges he faces at home. His wife reminds him, “We’re your team too.” Mike Flynt is not a bad man, but he is burdened by regrets and carries deep hurts from his toxic childhood.
Flynt’s football comeback may be the catalyst for his redemption, but his faith marks the true turning point. Flynt discovers his father’s Bible and a written prayer inside the cover in which his father asks for forgiveness. Later, the film’s narrator concludes, “Maybe it was seeing his father’s prayer for forgiveness. Or maybe it was realizing that he had become his father. Either way, at 59 years old, it’s not every day that you get a second chance at life.”
The story is left open-ended, and the faith aspects remain mostly on the fringes (likely to make the film more accessible to broader audiences), but Flynt’s father’s Bible becomes the symbol of Flynt’s healing, leading him to finally forgive both his father and himself. The Senior echoes the Scripture, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The film reminds audiences that it’s never too late for a redemption story.
