Mark Reviews Movies: OLYMPIC DREAMS

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 13, 2020

The primary selling point of Olympic Dreams—and it's an appealing one—is that the movie was shot on location at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. More than that, though, the cast and crew were given access to the Olympic Village, where athletes stay, eat, rest, play, and socialize during the Olympics. They made a movie while the best amateur athletes from around the world were preparing for their events, celebrating their victories, and suffering their perceived shortcomings.

We get to see it, in the background and directly facing the camera, but this isn't a documentary. No, it's a narrative about two lost souls who find each other and, through that discovery, learn to find themselves at the Olympics.

This ends up being a severe miscalculation on the part of co-writer/director Jeremy Teicher. Amidst this generic story of unlikely romance, we're probably paying more attention to the events and the people in the background. The chance that we might catch some real story or some secret detail is far more fascinating than the half-hearted romantic comedy that Teicher, along with co-screenwriters/stars Alexi Pappas and Nick Kroll, has pushed into the foreground.

To be fair, Pappas and Kroll are charming in their own ways. Pappas plays Penelope, a lifelong cross-country skier making her first appearance at the Olympics. She's anxious, nearly terrified, about failing in her mind. Her event, though, is shortly after the opening ceremonies, so at least she'll get it out of the way and know the results sooner rather than later.

Kroll plays Ezra, a dentist who has volunteered to provide dental treatment to any athlete who wants or needs it. Like Penelope, going to the Olympics has been a lifelong dream for Ezra. He even might have sacrificed a romantic relationship to fulfill that dream. His fiancée, back at home in the United States, doesn't like to travel. He does, and now, the two are on "a break."

Ezra wants to fix the relationship, but then, he meets Penelope. A lot of things for both of them are raised and questioned as a result.

Look, the will-they-or-won't-they dynamic of this kind-of, sort-of romance is pretty basic-tier stuff, even for a romantic comedy. Both of the leading characters are uncertain about the connection. Penelope, who's more than a decade Ezra's junior, seems surprised by the certainty of it, especially since she's wrestling with her athletic, professional, and personal plans for the future. She gets a personal-best in her event, but it's not enough to receive a medal. Does she want to keep skiing, or should she figure out an alternative?

Ezra was recently convinced that his life was set. Now, he's technically single and meets a young, determined, and adventurous woman who pushes him to figure out his own dreams, even as she's struggling with determining what her own are.

The story of the two could-be lovers stalls there. They're stuck in this rut of uncertainty, not for any rational or emotionally logical reason (The two, sure that if nothing happens now it never will, behave as if cellphones, email, or any other kind of modern communication since the telegraph hasn't been invented). It mostly seems as if the story is just an excuse to tell some kind of story while the cast and crew are at the Olympics.

In any other movie, half of a story, such as the one on display here, would be a complete disaster. Again, though, this one has its central selling point: All of this taking place as the Olympics are unfolding in the background.

Every establishing shot is like a documentary in miniature. As the two leads tour the stadium and the locations for assorted events, we get to catch glimpses of the logistics of how the Olympics are organized and run. In character, Pappas and Kroll actually talk to various athletes as they're preparing for or in the bittersweet aftermath of having participated in the Olympics. These scenes are the closest to an actual documentary that the movie becomes. The dynamic of having two actors—of considerably different backgrounds (Pappas, in addition to being a filmmaker herself, was also an Olympic athlete, and Kroll is a gifted comedic talent)—interview real Olympians is intriguing. There's an entirely different movie in these scenes, with each actor offering a unique perspective and line of questions for the real people they encounter.

It's definitely more engaging and more promising than the movie we actually get. Olympic Dreams squanders the potential of its location on a dull and incomplete story.

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