''The Mighty Macs'' is a 2009 American

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, th ...

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-g ...

by director Tim Chambers. It stars

Carla Gugino Carla Gugino (; born August 29, 1971) is an American actress. After appearing in ''Troop Beverly Hills'' (1989) and ''This Boy's Life'' (1993), she received recognition for her starring roles as Ingrid Cortez in the ''Spy Kids'' trilogy (2001� ...

in the lead role of

Cathy Rush Cathy Rush (born Cathy Cowan; April 7, 1947) was the head women's basketball coach at Immaculata from 1972 to 1977. She led Immaculata to three consecutive AIAW national titles from 1972–1974. She led the Mighty Macs to six consecutive fin ...

, a Hall of Fame women's basketball coach. The film premiered in the 2009

Heartland Film Festival The Heartland International Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. The festival was first held in 1992, its goal is to "inspire filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion pictu ...

and was released theatrically in the United States on October 21, 2011 through indie film label

Freestyle Releasing Freestyle Releasing, LLC is an independent film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2004, specializing in releasing films theatrically. Unlike most distributors, Freestyle Releasing does not put up any prints and advertising ...

Plot

In 1971,

, a woman ahead of her time, takes a job as the head women's basketball coach at Immaculata College. Rush faces a challenge of trying to compete against perennial powerhouses. Seven members of the 1972 Immaculata championship team appear as nuns in a church scene early in the film, sitting together in a pew, passing a note from the Rush character to a student.

Cast

Ellen Burstyn Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complicated women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Em ...

as Mother St. John *

Marley Shelton Marley Eve Shelton (born April 12, 1974) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Wendy Peffercorn in David Mickey Evans's coming-of-age comedy '' The Sandlot'' (1993), the Customer in Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's neo-noi ...

as Sister Sunday *

David Boreanaz David Paul Boreanaz ( born May 16, 1969) is an American actor, television producer, and director known for playing the roles of vampire-turned-private investigator Angel on The WB/UPN ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' supernatural drama (1997–2003 ...

Ed Rush Ed Rush is the stage name used by the drum and bass producer and DJ, Ben Settle (born 1973). Rush has been releasing records since 1992 and primarily with his musical partner Optical (Matt Quinn), since 1997. Along with Optical he is also the c ...

* Katie Hayek as Trish Sharkey * Kim Blair as Lizanne Caufield *

Margaret Anne Florence Margaret Anne Florence is an actress, singer, and model based in New York City. Margaret Anne has been featured in major motion pictures, television, independent films, and on the New York stage. She frequently appears in national and internati ...

as Rosemary Keenan * Taylor Steel as Mimi Malone * Kate Nowlin as Colleen McCann * Meghan Sabia as Jen Galentino *

Phyllis Somerville Phyllis Jeanne Somerville (December 12, 1943 – July 16, 2020) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She is best known for her roles in '' Little Children'' (2006), '' The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'' (2008), '' Surviving Fami ...

as Sister Sister *

Tony Luke, Jr. Anthony Lucidonio Jr. (born March 12, 1962) better known as Tony Luke Jr. is an American restaurateur, musician, songwriter actor, and media host who founded the cheesesteak franchise Tony Luke's. Career Luke married at age 18 after high school ...

as Salvator Galentino * Kathy Romano as Gate Agent * Joe Conklin as Game Announcer

Production

The film was filmed in 2007, but not released until 2011 due to the difficulties of finding a distributor. The director, Tim Chambers, had a potential distribution deal with Disney, but turned it down because Disney wanted to add coarse language to earn PG rating, but Chambers preferred to go for a G rating. Chambers worked out a deal with

, and the movie opened four years after completing the filming. Some scenes were shot at

West Chester University West Chester University (also known as West Chester, WCU, or WCUPA, and officially as West Chester University of Pennsylvania) is a public research university in and around West Chester, Pennsylvania. The university is accredited by the Middle ...

West Chester, Pennsylvania West Chester is a borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania. Located within the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,461 at the 2010 census. West Chester is the mailing address for most of its neighb ...

. Some scenes were shot at

The Hill School The Hill School (commonly known as The Hill) is a coeducational preparatory boarding school located on a campus in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about northwest of Philadelphia. The Hill is part of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization (TSAO). ...

Pottstown, Pennsylvania Pottstown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Pottstown was laid out in 1752–53 and named Pottsgrove in honor of its founder, John Potts. The old name was abandoned at the time of the incorporation as a borough in 1815. In 1888 ...

. Some scenes were shot in Alfred Cope Hall Gymnasium at Cheyney University in Cheyney, Pennsylvania

Reception

''The Mighty Macs'' received mixed reviews from critics. On

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 ...

, the film holds a rating of 46%, based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The site's consensus reads, "Its heart is obviously in the right place, but ''The Mighty Macs'' is too blandly formulaic to transcend the genre's many clichés." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a rating of 49 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mighty Macs, The 2009 films American basketball films 2009 drama films Films about women's sports Films set in Pennsylvania Films set in 1972 American drama films Films scored by William Ross Sports films based on actual events 2000s English-language films 2000s American films