The Bronze Dvd

The Bronze is a 2015 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Bryan Buckley and written by Melissa Rauch and Winston Rauch. It was produced by Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass through their Duplass Brothers Productions banner. The film stars Rauch, Gary Cole, Thomas Middleditch, Sebastian Stan, Cecily Strong, Haley Lu Richardson and Dale Raoul. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2015. The film was theatrically released on March 18, 2016 by Sony Pictures Classics.

Plot

Former gymnastics Bronze Medalist Hope Ann Greggory (Melissa Rauch) has been living off her celebrity status in her hometown of Amherst, Ohio, though she is reduced to going through her postal worker father’s mail deliveries for spending money. When her former coach Pavleck (Christine Abrahamsen) suddenly commits suicide, a letter arrives addressed to Hope stating that if she can guide Pavleck’s best student, a young gymnastics star named Maggie Townsend (Haley Lu Richardson) to the Olympics in Toronto, she will receive a $500,000 inheritance.

Unwilling to be overshadowed by Maggie’s success, Hope instead plans to take the money by sabotaging Maggie’s training so she can stay on top, initially feeding her junk food and a shake laced with marijuana. Maggie performs so poorly that arrogant Olympic Gold Medalist Lance Tucker (Sebastian Stan), who resents Hope’s celebrity on account of her inferior bronze medal (which she won despite a career-ending injury), threatens to take over as Maggie’s coach. When Hope learns she will forfeit the inheritance money if she does not continue training Maggie, Hope grudgingly devotes herself to Maggie’s training in earnest. Along the way, she enters a romance with her assistant coach Ben Lawfort (Thomas Middleditch), nicknamed “Twitchy” due to his involuntary facial spasms.

Hope’s efforts eventually pay off when Maggie qualifies for the Olympic Games. However, she is shocked to discover that Coach Pavleck’s gym is in danger of closing because Pavleck had no money to her name when she died. Upon hearing the news, Hope’s father confesses that he was the one who had written the letter, to motivate Hope to do something meaningful with her life. After a heated exchange, Hope gets drunk and ends up having sex with Lance Tucker, leading a heartbroken Ben, who witnessed the act, to break off their relationship.

Maggie wins the gold medal and is celebrated as a local hero in Amherst, but announces her intention to begin training with Lance in Los Angeles instead of staying with Hope. When Maggie fails to show up for an autograph signing at a mall, Hope addresses the disappointed crowd and declares that she will always be Amherst’s hero. She comes up with a plan to finance Pavleck’s gym on her own by selling uniforms and gymnastics lessons to local girls. She then apologizes to Ben and retains him as her assistant coach.

In the epilogue, a caption reveals that Maggie was forced to abandon her gymnastics career after becoming pregnant with Lance’s child. Hope continues to coach gymnastics, though none of her pupils have gone on to any distinction in the sport.

Cast

Melissa Rauch as Hope Ann Greggory
Ellery Sprayberry as Young Hope
Haley Lu Richardson as Maggie Townsend
Katherine Grable as the gymnastics stunt double for Maggie Townsend
Gary Cole as Stan Greggory, Hope’s father
Cecily Strong as Janice Townsend, Maggie’s mother
Thomas Middleditch as Ben Lawfort, who works at the gym
Sebastian Stan as Lance Tucker, Team USA coach
Dale Raoul as Doris
Michael Shamus Wiles as Davey
Christine Abrahamsen as Coach Pavleck
Kathryn Ding as Christa Carpenter, another gymnast
Craig Kilborn as Heath, an announcer at the Olympics