Movie Review: Prefontaine

So, a friend of mine who is obsessed with Steve Prefontaine, the "James Dean of track" lent me the movie Prefontaine, which stars Jared Leto as the legendary distance runner from Oregon. About ten minutes into the movie, I was wondering if my friend truly likes this movie, or likes it due to the extremely high unintentional comedy factor. The fake-documentary film style didn't work at all, and came across as much more Best In Show than Hoop Dreams. Especially because many of the actors are recognizable sitcom stars, like Al Bundy as an assistant coach and the dad from That 70s Show as a track official. The dialogue, the horrible fake German accents, and the 70s clothing and hairstyles were all so over-the-top. I did learn that Nike was co-founded by Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman, who made specialized soles for his runners using a waffle iron. However, Breaking Away still holds its special place as my favorite sports movie set during the 1970s.