Saint Ralph

REVIEW
The year is 1953, and 14-year-old Catholic schoolboy Ralph Walker (Adam Butcher) is just about the most innocent bad boy you’ll ever meet. His tendency to take the Lord’s name in vain, his sexual misadventures with the pool’s water jets and his need to forge signatures in the absence of any parental figures are all causing him to get in all sorts of trouble with strict Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent). In Fitzpatrick’s eyes, Hell is the only future for Ralph (even Purgatory is not an option), so as punishment he forces the boy to join the cross-country team to learn discipline. With his father dead and his mom hospitalized for cancer (and facing a grim prognosis), Ralph is confronted with a trinity of coincidences: a caring nurse (Jennifer Tilly) explains that his mom will need a miracle to live, his track coach (Campbell Scott) says it would be a miracle if Ralph were to enter and win the Boston Marathon, and, in a dream, God (in a Santa suit) tells Ralph to just do it. This doesn’t improve Ralph in Fitzpatrick’s eyes, and so Ralph must not only fend off his friends’ skepticism while he trains harder than anyone ever has before, but he must fight authority as well. This blend of inspirational sports film, coming-of-age story and touching family drama is irresistible. Saint Ralph is also bolstered by surprisingly complex explorations of Catholic dogma...in between scenes of sometimes explosive humor. Director Michael McGowan’s film is a thinking person’s crowd-pleaser.