Arriving with the grace of a double foot fault at last year's Sundance Film Festival, Melissa Rauch's gymnastics comedy The Bronze didn't exactly win over the judges. It was a disappointing festival debut for the Big Bang Theory star and her co-writer/director husband, Winston Rauch, but with the film set to hit theaters soon it has a chance to score a few points with a totally different audience.
The latest trailer for the R-rated film shows off a little more of the Rauch's offbeat sense of humor. The film centers on a former Olympic medalist still living off her past glory ten years later. Rauch based some of the gags on her own experiences as a TV star and the attention she would receive back in her hometown. Here's the official synopsis:
"A decade ago, Hope Ann Greggory (Melissa Rauch) was America's sweetheart. Her inspired performance on a ruptured Achilles at the world's most prestigious gymnastics tournament clinched an unlikely bronze medal for the U.S. team and brought glory to her hometown of Amherst, Ohio. But in the years since that epic third place victory, Hope hasn't done a whole lot with her life. Still living in her dad Stan's (Gary Cole) basement, still sporting her daily uniform of a Team USA gym suit with teeny-bopper bangs, ponytail and scrunchie, she spends her days at the mall milking her minor celebrity for free food and favors.
Hope's routine is upended when she learns that she must coach Amherst's newest gymnastics prodigy Maggie (Haley Lu Richardson) in order to receive a sizable financial inheritance. The hard-edged yet insecure Hope is faced with a serious dilemma: does she jeopardize her "hometown hero" status by devotedly training this rising star to achieve the dreams she never could? Or does she attempt to sabotage the impressionable Maggie to ensure that she remains the one and only star in Amherst?"
I was one of the few who gave the film a decent score, but we'll see what the other judges say when The Bronze opens on March 18th.
