''Ride Like a Girl'' is a 2019

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Rachel Griffiths Rachel Anne Griffiths (born in 1968) is an Australian actress. Raised primarily in Melbourne, she began her acting career appearing on the Australian series ''Secrets'' before being cast in a supporting role in the comedy ''Muriel's Wedding'' ...

in her feature film directing debut and starring

Teresa Palmer Teresa Mary Palmer (born 26 February 1986) is an Australian actress. She began her career with roles in '' Bedtime Stories'' (2008), ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice'' (2010), '' Take Me Home Tonight'' (2011), and '' I Am Number Four'' (2011). She r ...

and

Sam Neill Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. Neill's near-50 year career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he has been regarded as one o ...

. It is based on the true story of

Michelle Payne Michelle J. Payne (born 29 September 1985) is an Australian jockey. She won the 2015 Melbourne Cup, riding Prince of Penzance, and is the first and only female jockey to win the event. Early life The youngest child of ten of Paddy and Mary Pa ...

, the first female jockey to win the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melb ...

in 2015. The film is book-ended with documentary footage, which shows at the start Payne as a small girl saying she wants to win the Melbourne Cup and at the end, as a young woman, winning the 'race that stops a nation'. In her memorable victory speech, which was televised live across Australia, she told all the people along the way who had said she could not do it, to “get stuffed”. Griffiths watched the speech at a Cup day barbecue and was inspired to make the film.

Plot

plays

, the youngest of ten children of racehorse trainer Paddy Payne, who dreams of becoming a jockey and becomes the first woman to win the

in 2015.

Cast

* Summer North as Young Michelle Payne *

as Paddy Payne *Stevie Payne as himself * Genevieve Morris as Joan Sadler *

Brooke Satchwell Brooke Kerith Satchwell (born 1980) is an Australian actress, model and environmental spokesperson. Early life Satchwell lived in Teesdale, Victoria, for most of her life and has one sibling. She attended Toorak College. Career Satchwell star ...

as Therese Payne *

Sullivan Stapleton Sullivan Stapleton (born 14 June 1977) is an Australian actor who is best known for his roles in the television series ''The Secret Life of Us'', '' Strike Back'' and '' Animal Kingdom''. He also starred in the NBC crime drama '' Blindspot''. S ...

as Darren Weir *

Magda Szubanski Magdalene Mary Therese Szubanski ( ; born 12 April 1961) is an Australian comedy actress, author, singer and LGBT rights advocate. She performed in ''Fast Forward'', '' Kath & Kim'' as Sharon Strzelecki and in the films ''Babe'' (1995) and ' ...

as Sister Dominique *

Anne Phelan Anne Mary Phelan (2 August 1948 – 27 October 2019) was an Australian actress of stage and screen who appeared in many theatre, television and film productions as well as radio and voice-over. Her television soap opera roles included '' ...

as Sister Mary *Zara Zoe as Maree Payne *

Sophia Forrest Sophia Forrest is an Australian actress. They were nominated for Most Popular New Talent at the 2018 Logie Awards for her role in the Network Ten TV series '' Love Child''. Forrest played the role of Debbie Hampshire in ''Love Child'', joinin ...

as Cathy Payne *

Shane Bourne Shane Bourne (born 24 November 1949 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, musician, and television host. Career 1970s Co-founded Australian band Bandicoot with Mick Fettes (formerly of the band Madder Lake). The ...

as Trevor Smart *Dawn Brennan as Wedding Extra *Karen Brennan as Wedding Extra *Benjamin Bartlett as Wedding Extra *

Mick Molloy Michael Molloy (born 11 July 1966) is an Australian comedian, writer, producer, actor and television and radio presenter who has been active in radio, television, stand-up and film. He currently hosts '' The Front Bar'' on the Seven Network. ...

as Bairdy *Annaliese Apps as Brigid Payne

Release

''Ride Like a Girl'' was released in Australia on September 26, 2019 and was distributed worldwide by

Paramount Home Video Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...

on March 10, 2020.

Reception

67% of the 36 reviews compiled on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

are positive, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: "''Ride Like a Girl'' is far from the subtlest inspirational drama, but its fact-based story and charming cast are just enough to guide it down the stretch." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ride Like a Girl 2019 films Australian biographical drama films Australian horse racing films Australian sports drama films Films about horses 2019 biographical drama films 2010s sports drama films Films directed by Rachel Griffiths Films scored by David Hirschfelder Films set in the 20th century Films set in the 21st century Films set in 1991 Films set in 2015 Melbourne Cup 2019 directorial debut films Films about women's sports Films set in Melbourne Films set in Victoria (state) 2010s English-language films Screen Australia films English-language biographical drama films English-language sports drama films