Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story (2005)
As a coach and mentor, Walter Gretzky was instrumental in nurturing the talent of his son, hockey great Wayne Gretzky. So it came as an ironic tragedy when in 1991, just days after his 53rd birthday, Walter suffered a debilitating stroke that left him with no memory of his son's hockey career or his own role in Wayne's achievements.
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Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
This movie was an interesting little bit of Canadiana I caught late night on CBC. On that note I'm sure it will only appeal to other Canadians. I mean it's about Wayne Gretzky's dad and its kinda cheesy, bordering on melodramatic, with wooden dialogue and a very made-for-TV feel. There is a lot of hockey here and the Gretzsky's are Canadian royalty, but still.So, the story is based on Walter Gretzsky's autobiography "On Family, Hockey, and Healing" which follows his struggles after a stroke and his fight to remember not only his life but the impact he had on his legendary sons spectacular career on the ice. (He's known as the world famous hockey dad) That part of the story is pretty good, and I have to say I did end up enjoying this way more than I expected to. Walter's determination is inspirational and it makes you wish this had been a better movie. Kris Holden-Ried plays Wayne and in an honourable mention there's even a scene where they go to Tim Hortons -which I kinda loved. 04.11
If there was a story about finding the strength to overcome adversity, I couldn't find it. What I found was an insipid ploy right out of Made-for-TV Hell to cash in on a certain family member's celebrity.The guy playing Walter didn't look more than 15 years older than the guy playing Wayne, and neither of them looked remotely like Walter or Wayne. The woman playing Phyllis looked like Sarah Palin, complete with glasses and hair in a French twist. The guy playing the therapist looked like he just dropped out of junior high school. The guy playing Walter's buddy looked like a dumpy version of Clive Owen. At least the guy playing the doctor actually looked like a doctor.Here, Wayne, Keith, Brent, and Glen don't have lives, and Kim is well on her way to becoming Canada's most famous spinster when the therapist begins to hit on her. Yeah, they did wind up getting married, but it was more than a bit icky.Since the therapist is so inept at his job, he makes lists, he must have written the following for Walter to do; there is simply no other possible explanation:Have flashbacks about teaching your boy to play hockey while on the way to the hospital.Visit your parents' graves, then flip out like Frankenstein on an acid trip while having flashbacks about feeding chickens with your mother.Flip out like Frankenstein on an acid trip as you watch your kids play hockey.Flip out like Frankenstein on an acid trip when your wife serves you lunch.Flip out like Frankenstein on an acid trip as you chase after a figment of your imagination before it falls through the ice and drowns.Babble in Ukrainian like Frankenstein on an acid trip.Go into deer-caught-in-the-headlights mode at the drop of a hat.Crawl on your hands and knees across a skating rink.Get dissed by the coach of a pee-wee hockey team.Drive your wife and daughter up the wall.Phyllis and Kim were utterly unlikable because they had something resembling personalities. The others could have been played by cardboard cut outs, and no one would have noticed.
Living in Brantford, Ontario I have had the pleasure of meeting several members of the Gretzky family - especially Walter. To us, the Gretzky story is more of a reality than a story and it is known by almost everyone. This movie more than captured the feelings of what happened to Walter, and the whole experience. They way that the actor in the movie portrayed Walter is exactly how I see him every time I am at the local hockey arena. This is definitely a movie worth watching, even if you are not a fan of hockey. It will bring tears to your eyes and make you smile at the same time.
Why was this film even made? No disrespect to Walter Gretsky, but countless people have been felled by strokes. Other than his near celebrity status as the father of hockey legend Wayne, Walter's story just isn't that interesting -- or that well executed - to make a decent movie. The wooden dialog and homespun feel the filmmakers were obviously looking for teetered on the brink of melodrama. I found looking into the Gretskys' private life, and conversations between friends and family members (as imagined by the writer), somewhat disquieting. The filmmakers seem to have overlooked the fact that you can't make a good movie without a good story And this one just doesn't cut it.