Green and Gold, 2025.
Directed by Anders Lindwall.
Starring Craig T. Nelson, Brandon Sklenar. M. Emmet Walsh, Madison Lawlor, Charlie Berens, Ashton Moio, Shivani Mendez, Annabel Armour, Bill Kalinak, Tim Frank, Chanell Bell, and Shawn Graves.
SYNOPSIS:
With American farms disappearing, a fourth-generation dairy farmer and his granddaughter fight to preserve their way of life. Facing foreclosure, they wager everything on their beloved Green Bay Packers in a Hail-Mary effort to save their little chunk of dirt.
Thankfully, director Anders Lindwall’s cheesy Green and Gold (and not just because the film is hilariously but appropriately backed by Wisconsin-based fast food chain Culvers) is not actually setting out to answer whether or not God loves the National Football League’s Green Bay Packers. It’s a question that comes up in the opening (the working title for the film was also once nauseatingly God Loves the Green Bay Packers), but the emphasis is more of a tribute to hard-working, morally sound farmers who do right by their animals (a questionable outlook at best depending on one’s standings on farming) even at the cost of inefficiency and making less money.
The year is 1993, and Craig T. Nelson’s Buck, a strict and close-minded elderly farmer who worships God and the Green Bay Packers, struggles to keep his generational farm turning a profit. He also receives notices that he will lose the property if he doesn’t turn things around financially. His mortgage dealer jokingly suggests a bet allowing Buck to retain the land if the Green Bay Packers make the playoffs, go to the Super Bowl, and then win that big game, which is initially rejected, with the farmer stubbornly claiming he doesn’t believe in gambling to make ends meet.
Also present within this small Door County community is Buck’s granddaughter Jenny (Madison Lawlor), an aspiring singer/songwriter who regularly helps with the animals alongside the farmhands. This is an issue for Buck, who has some staunch beliefs that Jenny leaving Door County for a big city and chasing dreams in the entertainment industry would only end in disaster. One could draw parallels to right-wing leaning modern mindsets, making the character somewhat unlikable; part of saving his farm is rooted in preserving history, legacy, and access to a loved one but also a misplaced vendetta against the music industry and city life. That’s not to say these entertainment industries can do no wrong, but Buck occasionally comes across as overwhelmingly vocal, cutting down his granddaughter’s dreams. One might presume there is a clichéd character arc here, but the ending mostly proves his stance. Ultimately, it’s a film that’s less about Jenny’s choice and more about asserting rural supremacy with an overbearingly corny testament to the power of communities.
When not in church or watching football, Buck spends time with his wife Margaret (Annabel Armour.) Meanwhile, Jenny gradually gets involved in a love triangle between farmhand Aaron (Ashton Moio) and Billy (Brandon Sklenar), a popular singer of some notoriety who has returned home looking for inspiration. He’s also vegetarian, which doesn’t sit well with Buck.
There is so much happening here (without even getting into a contrived, emotionally manipulative health scare from Margaret) that what the Green Bay Packers mean to Buck gets lost in the plotting. Yes, he is a super fan who comes around on taking that previously mentioned bet, but the rest of the unique selling point to this story is limited to archival NFL footage of the Green Bay Packers season. Aside from one heavy-handed moment of a crushing loss immediately followed up by a radio host stating that farmers are becoming increasingly prone to suicide, football and the inner workings of farming are an afterthought to overwrought personal drama. With Missy Mareau Garcia, Michael Graf, Anders Lindwall, and Steven Shafer all attributed screenwriting credits, there is reason to believe this is the result of a script patched together with each writer working on separate elements.
What makes this more frustrating is that in the brief moments where these characters are depicted watching football, Green and Gold momentarily come to life. The connection between grandfather and granddaughter is amusingly felt while also allowing Craig T. Nelson to get slightly crotchety when things don’t go the way of the Green Bay Packers. The performances from him and Madison Lawlor (including her singing) are solid all around. Beyond that, like current Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, Green and Gold is a bust. Signed, a Chicago Bears fan who wants sports movies to be good regardless of what team they are centered on.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
