I’m sure that the story of famed Formula One car-racing man Rushmore ”Rush” Rushingford is an interesting human drama packed with thrilling twists and turns, otherwise an A-list director couldn’t get a movie like Rush made. But still, it’s the sign of some Hollywood hubris to make a big-budget, widely-released movie for American audiences about a sport that most Americans aren’t familiar with, let alone follow or enjoy.
Here are 10 other A-level movies about B-level sports.
[youtube width=”602″ height=”350″ video_id=”9CLRhxzpOTE”]Side Out
C. Thomas.
C. Thomas Howell.
C. Thomas Howell plays beach volleyball, which tends to do well on American TV only when its being played in the Olympics by ladies in sports bras, and not for pretend by C. Thomas Howell.
[youtube width=”602″ height=”350″ video_id=”L7X2cRwzESw”]Kicking and Screaming
Will Ferrell took a break of playing wacky characters to play a regular guy caught up in the no-stakes and dreary world of soccer.
[youtube width=”602″ height=”350″ video_id=”RZY8c_a_dlQ”]Invictus
Most Americans probably don’t know how important of a moment the 1995 Rugby World Cup was in the history of South Africa or the life of Nelson Madela, but then again most Americans thinks Nelson Mandela is the twin grandsons of Ozzie and Harriet.
[youtube width=”602″ height=”350″ video_id=”RCcFSsnp8OQ”]By the Sword
It’s a movie about FENCING. With Eric Roberts! This exists!
[youtube width=”602″ height=”350″ video_id=”h0bRZkXQAhE”]Wild Child
A spoiled American teenager (Emma Roberts) is so lazy and selfish that she’s sent to an English boarding school, where she realizes her inexplicable talent for lacrosse, as one does, which requires the opposites of laziness and selfishness.
[youtube width=”602″ height=”350″ video_id=”pPhECBeUfFw”]Oxford Blues
The only difference between Oxford Blues and St. Elmo’s Fire is that Oxford Blues is the one where Rob Lowe drives his sports car to England, gets into the most prestigious university in England, and joins the storied rowing team.
[youtube width=”602″ height=”350″ video_id=”l0nxP-izD2U”]Balls of Fury
Okay, so table tennis is popular in America, even if we consider it a drinking game, not a sport.
[youtube width=”602″ height=”350″ video_id=”je5FILEWVkM”]BASEketball
Invented by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for this 1998 film, the sport is insanely popular in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
[youtube width=”602″ height=”350″ video_id=”9Mkl9rtttog”]Gymkata
In order to secure the country of Parmistan for an American satellite monitoring station, an operative named Jonathan Cabot (gymnast Kurt Thomas) must win the country’s unwinnable game gymkata, a combination of gymnastics and karate. This based-on-true-events movie depicts Cabot’s unlikely victory, helped along by Parmistan’s many naturally occurring pommel horses and parallel bars.
[youtube width=”602″ height=”350″ video_id=”wLlmymHRNZg”]Cool Runnings
The Citizen Kane of Jamaican bobsled movies.
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