October 21, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by Harold Cronk
Culture Representation: Taking place from 1978 to 2022, in Washington State, the dramatic film “Average Joe” (based on real events) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A high school football coach is pressured to quit his job for briefly praying on the field after each game, and he takes his religious freedom case all the way to the Supreme Court.
Culture Audience: “Average Joe” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in faith-based dramas or legal dramas that are inspired by true stories.
“Average Joe” is not a great movie, but there’s solid acting in this faith-based drama, inspired by a true story, about a high school football coach who took his fight to pray on the field all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s preachy but watchable. The movie doesn’t portray anyone as saintly; all of the main characters have flaws.
Directed by Harold Cronk and written by Stephanie Katz, “Average Joe” takes a while to get to the heart of the story. The movie is really a biopic of Joe Kennedy, a former U.S. Marine who became a football coach and crusader for religious freedom. Whether or not people believe in any religion, the issue that the movie addresses is where people in the United States can have a right to pray if this prayer is not imposed on others.
Much of “Average Joe” (which takes place mostly in Washington state) is a narrative flashback told by middle-aged Joe (played by Eric Close) and his wife Denise (played by Amy Acker), as they sit on a living room couch and tell their story as if they’re talking to documentary filmmakers. (“Average Joe” was actually filmed in Louisiana.) Beginning in 1978, Joe—then known as Joey (played by Ezra Richardson)—was a rebellious 12-year-old who frequently got arrested for fighting or petty theft.
Joey’s unnamed adoptive parents (played by Ann Mahoney and Lyle Brocato) essentially give up on him, relinquish custody of him to the state, and move away. Joey eventually ends up in a group home for boys, where an adult leader named Ben (played by John Neisler) advises Joey to give God a try in finding inner peace. Ben also shows Joey an old, gnarly tree and says that Joey reminds him of the tree because the tree is a survivor.
During this time, Joey meets 12-year-old Denise Kennedy (played by Anabelle Holloway), who also comes from a troubled background. Her parents are constantly fighting. Denise’s father is also physically abusive. Denise and Joey find comfort in each other and develop romantic feelings for each other. Joey and Denise also write love letters to each other.
In 1990, when Joe (played by Austin Woods) is in his mid-20s, he enlists in the U.S. Marines. Joe and Denise lose touch with each other. During a visit back to his hometown, Joe sees Denise (played by Andrea Figliomeni) at a pub and hopes to rekindle their romance, but is dismayed to see that she is married and pregnant.
Denise tells Joe that she’s sorry that she stopped writing to Joe, but her life went in a different direction. Present-day Joe (on the living room couch) then says that after he found out that Denise was married, Joe married Denise’s cousin when he was in his 20s. He also quips that family reunions were “awkward.”
Denise and Joe each had children from these marriages, but each marriage ended in divorce. Denise’s first husband was abusive to her. In 2005, middle-aged Joe and Denise—now both divorced with adult children who no longer live with them—reconnect, have a whirlwind romance, and get married.
After a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Marines (where he was a staff drill sergeant), Joe retires from the military. In 2008, he becomes a part-time football coach for Northlake High School, whose football team is called the Wolverines. The team is somewhat on a losing streak until Joe uses some of his military training to improve the team.
After every game, Joe gets down on one knee and prays silently and briefly on the field. He doesn’t hold his hands in prayer. It just looks like he’s doing a short, non-verbal meditation as he bows his head. He doesn’t force or ask anyone to pray with him. This prayer ritual doesn’t become a problem for Joe until 2015, when some people in the community start complaining about it because they think it’s a violation of the separation between church and state that is required for government-operated schools.
Northlake High School is a public school, which is why some people in the community object to Joe’s prayer meditations in public on school property. Other people in the community support Joe and think that a public school should not dictate if someone prays in this way on school property. Joe is given a warning by the school district to stop praying in public on school property, or else he will get fired. Joe doesn’t stop, but he then submits his forced resignation before he can be fired. (In real life, Joe Kennedy resigned from Bremerton High School in Washington state in 2015.)
Complicating matters, Denise works in human resources for the school district. Joe decides to take legal action, by claiming the school district committed religious discrimination against him and violated his First Amendment rights. This legal battle eventually takes a toll on the marriage of Denise and Joe. Denise also has anxiety/mental health issues that are aggravated by this legal fight.
Even though “Average Joe” is about a serious subject matter, the movie has light touches of comedy that usually work adequately. The narrative structure needed improvement by reducing some of the screen time for Joe’s younger years, because by the time the legal battle is shown, the movie is more than halfway over. Many viewers already know the outcome of this case, but those who don’t know shouldn’t be surprised, because Joe’s story wouldn’t have been made into a movie if it had another outcome.
Even with some hokey aspects of “Average Joe,” the movie is fairly credible when depicting the marriage of Joe and Denise, who are best friends and soul mates but who also have their share of realistic marital clashes. “Average Joe” could have used more insight into how Joe and Denise are as parents. However, the story makes Joe and Denise well-rounded enough that they come across as believable people. “Average Joe” delivers on being a feel-good movie, as long as viewers know in advance that it has a faith-based perspective.
Fathom Events released “Average Joe” in U.S. cinemas on October 11, 2024.