Fast Girls (2012)

Wonderful Movie

Memorable, crazy movie

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I recently came across this movie on an online movie site. As a 30 year veteran of track and field officiating in the US and with at least 35 years experience as a competitor, I thought the movie might be interesting. The plethora of errors about the sport of athletics (track and field in the US) were more than I could tolerate after watching about 30 min. The US relay squads DO NOT practice and run together for years as one British national coach asserted. That is why they fail to finish or are disqualified from so many World Championship and Olympic 4 x 100 meter relay races. The 4 x 200 meter relay is almost never run in international meets as was pictured in the film. At least one, and usually several field events are being contested in the infield during meets. That the infield was conspicuously void of athletes during the meet in Spain seemed to prove that the movie had a very small budget and couldn't afford actors to portray jumpers, vaulters, and throwers, or the writer(s) knew next to nothing about the sport. I won't even try to go into the plot and acting shortcomings.

It is a lot of years now since I was last in a "proper" nightclub but I do remember my years working in work and feeling part of the places in a way that my mid-30's self really doesn't now. Anyway, at their best a club is loud with appropriate music (maybe not great music, but music that works in that context) and it creates a sense of feeling good and shared enjoyment that is quite a thing – people look good, nobody is self-conscious about their terrible dancing and generally people are enjoying themselves despite the fact that the night will probably not leave them with too much beyond the moment.So, why am I talking about this? Well to me this film reminded me of that experience, even more so given that the spirit of the Olympics was still resonating around the UK. The film follows an athlete who is from the wrong side of the tracks and has limited resources but yet manages to make it onto the Great Britain team; challenges come in the personal and professional type, but can she overcome? Well of course the answer is pretty obvious and so goes the film because this is a product that is marketed to clearly hit a vein of Olympics fever. As a film it is pretty basic; I'm pretty sure that if you sped up all the slow-mo bits that it would run to 60 minutes, not 90, and that if you took out all the scenes that had recent UK pop music over it then it would probably be only half that again. However, it still works for what it is – a "of its time" feel good movie.The film mostly focuses on low level set pieces, whether they be heavily sound tracked racing action or just generic social drama background – it is all filmed the same way; superficially and without heart. Indeed this is the core of the film – heartless and superficial; the characters don't ever appear as people, the scenarios are never fleshed out beyond the level of wallpaper and the film itself is keen to exist on this very simple level. In this regard it is of course weak – it never draws the viewer in but what it does do is provide simple stimuli in the construction. As a result the race is still engaging, the plot is still simply effective and it works. The cast are part of this as they play natural despite their paper thin characters and motivations. Crichlow leads the cast well – when the script gives her a little bit to work with she does it well, otherwise she is solid enough to carry it. James is not as good – a problem since she carries the weight for the tension; she doesn't convince and neither does that element of the plot. The supporting cast are generic but Graves, Benjamin, Burroughs and others do the job well enough for this. Clarke gets his face in again while Bradley James is good-looking at least.Overall this film works as a simple crowd-pleaser but this is not to suggest that it has any merit beyond the superficial, because it doesn't. The soundtrack is as important as the cast and, while they do a decent job, the script never does more than provide wallpaper to the style and "feel" of the film. It does still work in the way that an ugly person looks good in the drunken euphoria of a nightclub – but, while it is fun in the moment, you don't want to be waking up next to this film.

with a very loose Luke-warm screenplay, boring scenario and plot, tasteless dialog and marginal elementary acting of all actors and/or actresses, this movie in general, sucks although still barely watchable. this movie gave me an impression as if watching an African country's athletes fighting their future in track and field careers instead of the British young athletes. sorry, i did have such confusing impression as if i was watching a nowadays' south African track and field movie since the whites were the minority. these female sprinters were a new kind of sports species, they drank, drunk, party all night, white against the black, black against the white, rich against the poor, parents either divorced or separated or one of them disappeared, or both disappeared.....what a sad but over-the-top modern day rich countries' social infra structural tragedy. winning is everything, no matter what. need a sponsor, or many sponsors, otherwise, no gears, no training coach, no future. what a commercialized world.

OK film, that follows a young dedicated black sprint racer as she battles to escape her council estate and become the best in the world. The lead character has no support from any of her friends or immediate family and is also homeless sleeping on couches.Her hardship has to be taken with a pinch of salt, because she appears fit and fed. The only help she receives is from an amateur coach who gives up his early mornings training her on a track that has seen better days with no proper facilities. The aim is to hit a consistent running time of under 23 seconds to qualify for the World Championships being held in London 2011.This aim brings her into conflict with the current UK champion and her father who is high up in the athletics association and will manipulate events for his daughter to always have the upper hand.The story covers familiar ground seen in most sports movies, and pushes home the concept that the only thing holding an individual back is how they deal with adversity and what they can do to break the cycle of their lives. The film deals with race and points the finger of fault at everybody ie if you come from a ghetto you can escape it with a little effort. The film is an enjoyable 100 minutes and the viewer does still root for the lead to achieve her goal no matter how self destructive she is. Its an attractive looking film, and does not claim to be a social documentary.