Two Minutes to Play: A Fast Track to Nowhere?

Is it worth the watch?

Look, if you’re into the weird, dusty corners of early sound-era sports dramas, you’ll probably find something to grin at here. If you need a movie that makes sense or holds together, keep scrolling. It’s for the folks who like their leads to be impossibly fast and their college rivalries to feel like they’re happening in a void.

The whole thing feels like it was put together on a lunch break. Martin Granville Jr. is our guy, a track star who’s supposed to be headed for glory but decides that chasing a girl named Pat Meredith is a much better use of his collegiate time. It’s not exactly deep stuff, but it hits the beats if you don't think about it too much.

Running in circles

David Sharpe is basically the whole movie. The man moves like he’s got springs in his shoes. There’s a specific shot of him sprinting that goes on just a little too long, where you start to wonder if he’s ever going to stop or if he’s just going to keep running until he hits the edge of the set. It’s kind of hypnotic.

The dialogue? It’s definitely from a different planet. People say things like, "I'll see you at the finish line," and you can just feel the script trying to convince you that this is the most important race in the history of higher education. It’s charming in a goofy, 1930s kind of way.

Small details that stuck

• The extras in the background of the track meet look like they’d rather be literally anywhere else.
• The romantic chemistry is about as heated as a lukewarm cup of tea, but hey, it’s sweet enough.
• There’s a moment with Grady Sutton that made me laugh out loud, mostly because he looks like he wandered into the wrong film entirely.

It’s not quite as punchy as Lucky Devils or as weird as the stuff you see in The Love Tyrant, but it’s got a weird pulse. It’s light, it’s thin, and it’s over before you can really get annoyed by the plot holes. Sometimes that’s enough. 🏃‍♂️💨

I found myself wondering if they actually built a track or if they just filmed behind a local high school and hoped for the best. The lighting in the final act is... a choice. It flickers in a way that suggests the power grid was struggling as much as the plot.