The Senior Kicks Field Goals but Not Feelings

The Senior

★ ★ ½

The Senior is a film based on a true story about Mike Flynt, a 59-year-old who finds himself still eligible to play one last season of football at his alma mater. In his senior year, he was kicked off the football team and expelled after one too many fights off the field. He was technically qualified to complete his final year of eligibility at Sul Ross State University in Texas, provided he could make the team.

As the film begins, we see Mike (Michael Chiklis) use his fists to solve a road rage incident, showing us he’s still not fully in control of his anger even in his middle age. Eileen (Mary Stuart Masterson) notices the bruising on his knuckles and gives him the “aw, shucks, you’ve been fighting again” speech and that’s about as far as Mike’s held to account. I expected the small-town sheriff to knock at the door during dinner, but the driver of the truck had it coming anyway. Right?

Michael Chiklis doing drills
© 2025 Angel Studios / Wayfarer Studios

Eileen urges Mike to go to his 35-year college reunion. He’s hesitant to go—the last time his teammates saw him, he was beating up a freshman teammate for breaking curfew. Mike decides to go, and his former teammates have long buried the hatchet. To his surprise, they can look past his shortcomings and joke with him about his eligibility to play one last year. Mike takes it seriously and decides to try out for the team, something current coach Sam Weston (Rob Corddry) isn’t exactly thrilled about.

It wouldn’t be an inspirational story if Mike didn’t make the team, so the film follows him as he overcomes the limitations of age and unchecked anger from the past. Mike’s dad, J.V. (James Badge Dale), was hardcore in raising him. As the movie tells us, he taught Mike to box by actually hitting him when his defenses were down. “Don’t tell your mother,” J.V. says at the end of a lesson. J.V. is the kind of dad who knows how to build a fighter, but forgets to give him an “off switch.” It’s something Mike spends the season trying to work through.

Michael Chiklis as Mike Flynt
© 2025 Angel Studios / Wayfarer Studios

Mike’s not a bad guy—not at all. Chiklis fits the role nicely, because he has both a charming personality and a “don’t light my fuse” demeanor. Mike tries to be a better man, father and husband to his family. But he’s dealt some of the same slightly over-the-top, hardcore discipline to his own son Micah (Brandon Flynn), which has fractured their relationship.

All of these thematic elements are blessings in the cinematic universe—the kinds of character flaws that test drive and determination. They mold characters we relate to on a primal level and we feel their failures and celebrate their successes. But the script stays focused on the surface-level of the story, weaving in messaging rather than a deep-dive character study. It’s the kind of content that made Rudy a beloved football classic.

You’d be tempted to call this movie a “reverse-Rudy.” Mike’s even called this by a teammate. But I’m more reminded of the scene in Rocky Balboa where Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) tells Paulie (Burt Young) he needs to do this one last fight because there’s “still some stuff in the basement.” Given that Rocky Balboa came out in 2006—Rocky was 59 in the film—and Mike finally played his senior year in 2007, it wouldn’t be a stretch to think Balboa’s release had some inspirational fingerprints on his decision to try out for the team.

Mary Stuart Masterson as Eileen Flynt
© 2025 Angel Studios / Wayfarer Studios

Mike Flynt deserves a story that isn’t afraid to dive hard into the emotional gravitas of what he had to overcome to break the cycle of anger bestowed upon him. Despite Chiklis’ best efforts, the script fails to take his character deep down the field. An inspiring movie is a beautiful thing. But it needs a strong emotional core to drive it home. The Senior may have technically won the game, but the score was an anticlimactic 6-3 battle of field goals.