One notable aspect about “Road to Victory” is its apparent attention to detail. While it almost comes off as a typical sports drama, there’s just much more behind it beside sports and clunky metaphors on life. Mike Reilly’s film is so well put together and well acted that it was a joy to sit and watch what was an apparent work of love. “Road to Victory,” when it’s on is just great. One scene in particular that demonstrates Reilly’s knack for writing and camera work is our character Elliot’s first meeting with his potential girlfriend Anna at a college class. Not only can the dialogue be very genuine, but Reilly displays a humble sense of humor that will surely spark a laugh or two. But then it’s raw, and Reilly just is fantastic at times with his ability to display sex between two rather good looking people in the least stylish ways possible. Reilly is never afraid to be nude, nor is he afraid to show how utterly awkward inability to have sex can be especially when your girlfriend happens to be an incredibly sexy woman like Julia Anderson.

The cause of Elliot’s apparent impotence is almost never hinted at but there are a number of allusions that Reilly makes that only becomes a mere grain of sand to the bigger problem involving a woman’s inability to focus on someone other than herself, and Elliot’s cold delivery to Anna’s attempts to reach out. “Road to Victory” uses sports as a metaphor that Elliot approaches with the same importance. He puts too much pressure on himself, he takes it all much too seriously, and the pressure gets to him, eventually. I’m never a fan of independents that have the director starring, but Reilly actually pulls in a strong performance, and I was surprised. As Elliot he can be unlikable, but also rather sympathetic, while Julia Anderson is often despicable and selfish while also displaying complexities that don’t make her an antagonist or shrew. Sex is a selfish act, and this disability acts as a way to bring about these individuals true character traits. “Road to Victory” is much more than it sells itself to be.

In the end, I understood what “Road to Victory” was getting at. I knew what it was trying to get across, and I knew the characters up and down because Reilly simply doesn’t keep anything in the dark, but in the end, I also knew that “Road to Victory” really wasn’t a film I completely enjoyed. Is it terrible? Hardly. It’s just not a film I was completely sold on even during its high points. In some moments, “Road to Victory” can feel like a PSA, a sort of HBO PSA that played during those awareness months, and that doesn’t entirely bode well for a movie so well put together. I almost expected “To learn more about male impotence, consult a physician…” to play after the credits.

While I really did enjoy certain moments, the movie has a particular flat aspect to the emotions it really attempts to inject to the audience, and while on some occasions it can work, other times I simply didn’t feel it. That’s due in part to the sometimes uneven balancing of moods and characterization. At times the movie seems to want to be a drama that uses sports as a microcosm, while other times it seems to want to be completely about sports with the drama as a secondary element and when it pushes to include both mind sets, it doesn’t completely succeed. Meanwhile, I never actually understood what the intent for either of the characters was. Was Anna just a girl in it for the sex and mind games as is alluded to in one scene, or was she actually devoted to Elliot? I could never understand, and in many moments I just didn’t like her character a bit. “Road to Victory” has a problem with focus and when it’s on the right track it’s entertaining, but when it’s uneven, it’s hard to pinpoint where it’s all going.

Excruciating, awkward, and often times just plain raw, Mike Reilly’s film shows two beautiful people royally fucked up thanks to an inadvertent sexual disability. While “Road to Victory” can sometimes feel like a PSA with numerous flat moments, Reilly has talent, there’s simply no denying that and it won me over. This is for the men, not the men who play sports.

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