They Call Me Sirr

I enjoyed Michael Clarke Duncan in this, but I like him in anything.

This story, true though it may be, could just as easily have been about any other elite athlete. There are very few who do not come from the same place. A major difference, I guess, is that Sirr Parker dropped out of the NFL almost immediately. I don't know whether he was injured or just not good enough. A football player has got to be pretty weak not to last with the Cincinnatti Bengals. Maybe he'll ressurrect as Tommy Maddux did briefly after a long and obscure career in the arena league.

The actress who played Sirr's mother looked more likely to be his girlfriend, but maybe she was 13 when he was born. It happens.

This could have been a good story but it's apparent that Canada doesn't have the actors or the resources to do a film that takes place in the hood. Michael Clark Duncan was good with what he had to work with. I didn't think it was a very good script, but it was a good true story. The kidd that played "Sirr" did an decent job. Aunt Jackie was good as well. The roles that suffered were the smaller roles. The thing about a film is that there are no small roles. Every role is a piece to a puzzle. If the "day-players" don't come off as pros your production suffers. The other thing about Canada is you can't do any big shots, because it doesn't look like where you're supposed to be. Know what I mean? And why was #34 playing quarterback? Those are some of the small things that make a film look legit. A director's mistake. Some films need to be shot where they took place.

I attended Texas A&M (where Sirr Parker played) from 1996 - 2001. I had the occasion to briefly chat with Sirr Parker and I believed then (as now) that he is one of the nicest, most sincere guys I've ever met. It was then with great interest that I rented this movie. As soon as I read it was about him, I snapped it up. Given that, I tried to like this movie. I really did. It just didn't happen.

For one, the chronology is at times hard to keep up with. This is especially true with when Sirr is in highschool. One minute, he's on the junior varsity team. The next minute, he's suddenly varsity. The next thing you know, he's starting. Verbal clues here indicate that THREE YEARS have passed (Sirr is now a junior). This is only compounded by the fact that Sirr's little brother NEVER GROWS UP! It's hard to tell when time is passing because the kid doesn't get bigger and doesn't age at all over four years. One big advantage of movies over the stage is the ability to manipulate time. Unfortunately, this ability is squandered here.

The dialogue is bad. Very un-natural. I don't fault the actors however. They only worked with what they had. If you give them "forced" drama to work with, you will get forced lines in return. Good dialogue will also create the plot (exposition). In this case, the dialogue did not sufficently express what the characters should have been feeling at that moment.

Finally, I'd never thought I'd say this but there needs to be some conflict and tension in the plot. Not an Armageddon-esque amount, but enough to help move things along. Yes, it sucks that Sirr has to watch over his brother WHILE working WHILE playing football. Yes, there is the alchie mom who comes and goes. There are plenty of conflicts, but each one seems to come up on a whim, and be dismissed just as easily.

It would appear that the screenwriter tried his best to give the viewer a broad vision of what Sirr went through. It's almost as if he felt pressure to jam it all into a two hour Showtime special. And in movies, as with techtonic plates, all that pressure means something has to give.

"They Call Me Sirr" is decent TV movie with a good performance by Michael Clarke Duncan. Make no mistake, this is no "Boyz in the Hood", but I was entertained. Do not expect the type of plot development that we would find in a feature.

They Call Me Sirr is the story of Sirr Parker's rise to football stardom, after battling a childhood that seemed destined to keep him a victim of both the poverty and crime around him, and of his own broken family.

Virtually abandoned by his mother at an early age, the film is tremendously effective in showing Sirr's inner conflict to pursue a promising football career versus staying home to care for his grandmother and younger brother. Mainly due to the support of his family and friends and his own growing need to realize his true athletic talent, he struggles to realize his dream.

The choice to make the film a mostly family affair was a good one, despite its sanitized look and feel. The lack of expletives and other expected profanities seems unrealistic. Yet, in its place we are given a heartfelt and extremely even story about a boy who is able to rise above the turmoil of the environment around him. Most importantly, it is a message picture for kids in attempting to show them that with hard work, perseverance and the caring people around them, it is possible to be successful in life, rather than succomb to the victim mentality.

Performances by all are noteworthy, especially Sirr's character, played with conviction by Kente Scott. Michael Clarke Duncan is also memorable as Coach Griffin, a man whose mission in life is to create only the best of players, yet human enough to attempt to help heal their inner wounds.

A memorable biopic with a soul.