Backwards

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  • Opened September 21, 2012 (Limited)
  • 1 hr 29 min
  • PG | Some mild language

  • Parents: Common Sense Media says OK for kids 10+. More on child suitability

  • Abigail Brooks (Thomas) has spent her lifetime trying to win an Olympic rowing medal, sacrificing friendship, love, and a "normal life" along the way. When she is named an alternate on the Olympic team she quits in haste. Defeated, Abi moves back home with her widowed, workaholic mother (Margaret Colin). Tension builds as Abi's mother urges her to "move on" from the rowing life that Abi's father, a coach, introduced her to. Unable to do so, but needing an immediate job, Abi seizes an open crew coach position at her alma mater, Union High. There, the head of athletics is her old boyfriend, Geoff (James Van Der Beek). Abi trains her high school rowers in an obsessive fashion, taking two girls, Hannah (Alexandra Metz) and Susan (Meredith Apfelbaum), under her wing. After the girls lose an important regional race, Abi reinvents herself as a coach, and, in the process, learns to have fun again both on the water and off. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Sarah Megan Thomas, James Van Der Beek, Glenn Morshower, Margaret Colin, David Alan Basche, Alexandra Metz, Meredith Apfelbaum, Alysia Reiner, Wynn Everett, Ellis Walding, Kiandra Wilshire
  • Director: Ben Hickernell
  • Genres: Drama

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134 fans
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So-so
Critics say So-So
43 out of 100
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Fan Reviews

Must Go!
Heartwarming sports romance

by shannon7

Backwards is a charming, upbeat story with heart and substance. Whether you're a sports aficionado, a fan of romantic comedy or a devotee of James Van Der Beek, you'll find something to love. Plus,...

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Reality Sets In

by

It's the kind of movie you watch and think "This could really happen to me" instead of "No way! That's impossible!" Which I hear a lot of in movies nowadays. Make sure to go see this movie. James Van...

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Critic Reviews

70
Los Angeles Times
| Gary Goldstein

It's simple stuff, but it works. Read full review

50
San Francisco Chronicle
| Mick LaSalle

A movie whose main virtue was its honesty ultimately lands in a place that feels canned and unsatisfying. But on the way there, Backwards isn't so bad. Read full review

50
Philadelphia Inquirer
| Carrie Rickey

Backwards - its title referring to the wisdom that life is lived forward but understood backward - has no forward propulsion. Read full review

50
Variety
| Joe Leydon

Passably pleasant but thoroughly predictable. Read full review

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Sarah Megan Thomas as Abigail Brooks in "Backwards."