Yesterday the trailer for Will Smith’s football/head injury movie, creatively titled Concussion, dropped its first trailer, marking its entry into award season. Smith stars as Dr. Bennet Omalu, the man who discovered Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, which is the brain disease that sets in after repetitive concussions and head injuries. CTE is a hot button issue for the NFL because the NFL is governed by human sh*itpile Roger Gooddell, who is incapable of placing the well-being of actual humans over a rubberized sack of pig skin. If you follow the NFL at all, you’ve probably heard of CTE as something that the NFL dismisses as not real and entirely made up by people who just want to bum us out and ruin our Sundays. You know, like “domestic abuse” or “criminal charges”.
Concussion is obvious awards bait, but it actually does look pretty good. The writer/director, Peter Landesman, also wrote Jeremy Renner’s conspiracy film Kill the Messenger, which was mostly good, if a little uneven. If Landesman learned anything from Messenger, let it be that when the conspiracy is especially compelling, no one gives a sh*t about the home lives of the people involved, we just want to watch the conspiracy play out. Anyway, Concussion, looks good, I’m okay with Smith’s accent, and for once the awards races don’t feel too crowded by September, so if it’s any good and Smith works his connections, he might have a real shot at some nominations. I just hope this movie gets a huge ad push and we spend a couple months of high football season talking about CTE and reminding everyone that the NFL doesn’t give a sh*t about real people. They’re too busy fondling Tom Brady’s balls.
