Critic’s rating: ★★★ 1/2
(108 minutes; R)

Would it be fair to think of “The Way Back” as “Hoosiers” lite?

No, not quite. But “The Way Back” does touch on the misadventures of a high-school hoops team in a small town, alcoholism and gifted coaches struggling with the burden of complicated pasts. And it rather neatly occupies the inspirational/redemption category. If you don’t find yourself getting a little rah-rah about the prospects of great achievement for the kids at the movie’s center … you might be made of stone.

Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck), a man for whom sucking down beer and liquor comes as naturally as breathing oxygen, spends his days as a semi-tanked construction worker. Nerves of steel and sheer good luck, apparently, help him avoid serious accidents while maintaining a steady buzz. After hours, he has a regular roost at the local bar. When Jack finally comes home to his nondescript apartment, his late-night return sometimes abetted by a kindly, less drunk fellow barfly, he finds himself alone with his thoughts and a refrigerator that’s fully stacked with beer cans and little else. He’s the kind of guy who chugs beers even while in the shower, and keeps a mini-cooler in his truck.

Fate intervenes when the priest who runs Jack’s high school, where he once reigned as basketball champ, asks the former star and local hero to come back and lead a ragtag team of kids who have passion and talent but are entirely undisciplined and unfocused. Not unlike their new coach. Yes, I was reminded of “The Bad News Bears” (both versions), too.

In the wrong hands, all those elements could have coagulated into something cliched and decidedly corny. Director Gavin O’Connor, who helmed the 2016 Affleck vehicle “The Accountant” and the 2004 sports drama “Miracle,” doesn’t exactly travel new terrain here. Yet he elicits a fine, nuanced, lived-in performance from Affleck, who understands his character’s struggle with addiction from the inside out — art reflected life, as the star had recently made his way back from the bottle, a publicly dissected journey that included bouts with rehab in 2017 and 2018. 

For “The Way Back,” not to be confused with the similarly titled 2013 comic drama “The Way Way Back,” the double Oscar winner turns in one of his best, most convincing performances in years. And the film, scripted by Brad Inglesby (“Our Friend,” TV mini-series “Mare of Easttown”) is among the more engaging sports dramas of recent vintage.

Although imperfect in many ways, it’s a largely winning effort that’s sometimes poignant, and sometimes funny. Thankfully, Affleck left the Batman heroics behind for his role in “The Way Back,” and found a comfortable fit as the protagonist in a film that benefits from its modest budget and limited ambitions. It’s an above-average movie bolstered by a surprisingly gutsy and affecting lead performance. Here’s hoping that it doesn’t fall between the cracks.

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