\Radio,"" starring Ed Harris and Cuba Gooding Jr., comes as a quiet and down-to-earth film in a season of epics. With ""The Matrix: Revolutions"" and ""The Return of the King"" just a few weeks off, it is a great relief to see a movie where the fate of the world is not decided in the last 15 minutes. Instead ""Radio"" focuses on the simple respect and dignity that two men share in an unlikely time and place.
Set in Anderson, S.C., ""Radio"" begins with football coach Harold Jones (Ed Harris) rescuing James Robert 'Radio' Kennedy (Cuba Gooding Jr.) from a prank by Jones' players. Kennedy, a mildly disabled character, has been barely tolerated by the town's citizens for years. For the most part, the townsfolk merely shrugged him off along with the cart he pushed and the radios he collected.
Radio and Jones become fast friends, with Jones offering him some respect while Radio brings a little enthusiasm and light-heartedness to a competitive town. Jones and the town of Anderson are bent on winning every football game they enter and the talk of the barbershop/old boys' club is how the coach will fare in the upcoming game. Jones is seen as a bit of an icon and his friendship with Radio comes as a surprise.
At home Jones is bothered by the way his daughter, Mary Helen, (Sarah Drew) seems to be growing up without him. In Anderson, he confronts Frank Clay (Chris Mulkey), the local banker and father of football star Johnny Clay (Riley Smith). Between the two, Jones tries to inspire some tolerance in his team and redeem himself for wasted opportunities of his past.
Throughout the film Jones acts as a quiet mentor, standing up for Radio when he is taken to the police station for robbery and when he is tricked into running into the girls' locker room. Against the Friday night football crowds and often against the town's reluctance to accept Radio, Jones persists, holding to his conscience and good judgment.
""Radio"" succeeds as an uplifting film because Harris gives his character a quiet sense of dignity and calm pride in his team and town. Harris' performance never seems unnecessarily heroic or noble but always polite and just.
Cuba Gooding Jr. manages to balance Kennedy's handicap with his curiosity. He never seems to call for pity, instead making Radio into another citizen of Anderson, just with a couple of different habits. Gooding has found an appropriately testing role that he pulls off with an admirable combination of restraint and concerted effort.
One of the few faults ""Radio"" has is the flatness of the rest of the cast. Chris Mulkey and Riley Smith never exhibit any great frustration or act like their disagreements with Harris make them uneasy. The father-and-son duo never come together as any sort of small-town institution. Meanwhile, Sarah Drew never wears the lost-little-girl expression that her character could use. In fact, the minor conflict between Jones and his daughter is never fully resolved.
Despite these drawbacks, ""Radio"" succeeds as a heartwarming film that never slides into sappiness or demands sympathy for its leads. Inspired by a true story, the movie maintains a sense of innocence but never needs to show it off. ""Radio"" serves as both a story of uncommon decency and reminder that a good movie does not need to be an epic.
