The inspirational story of Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup despite facing odds of a 100 to 1.
Michelle Payne (Teresa Palmer) is one of 10 children, 8 of whom (including her) are horse jockeys. Michelle is passionate, outspoken, and wants to be taken seriously. But she is having trouble standing out from her siblings and making her mark in the still male-dominated sport.
Sam Neill stars as her father, Paddy. He is the one who encourages her and has taught her the most, though they do often butt heads. Here he is grumpy and stubborn, a bit like his “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” character but without the humor and charm. Her brother, Stevie, who has Down Syndrome, is Michelle’s biggest supporter and best friend. They have a close relationship; however, you don’t really know how their dynamic is with the rest of the family. Besides Paddy and Stevie, the rest of the family don’t get much screen time or character depth.
While the story itself is inspiring, the story was entirely predictable. Michelle is a woman not given a fair shot, she works hard, she gets into an accident, then gets better, and eventually wins the big prize. I didn’t know much about horse jockeying prior to the film and learned from it how much diet, exercise, and endurance it takes to compete, not to mention how easy it is to get hurt. It is quite an impressive sport and I think the film captured that well.
There are various cringe-worthy pop songs that start playing in the background whenever there is a rousing moment of Michelle overcoming obstacles in her riding that kept taking me out of the film and made want to roll my eyes. And I was a bit surprised by how superficial the sexism Michelle faced was handled. There were only a couple of throwaway comments about it or her being forced to get changed in a small closet as the only woman jockey racing.
If you are a horse lover, you are sure to enjoy the film. But overall, I found it to be mediocre. Palmer and Neill give fine performances, but neither performance is memorable. The story is uplifting but has nothing new. If the film was grittier, showing the way Michelle struggled, I might have responded more to it. But if you are in the mood for a rousing, albeit generic tale about a girl beating the odds, “Ride Like a Girl” may be worth a shot.
Available on DVD and Digital April 28th
