Too much of everything

That was an excellent one.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Matt Hamill (Russell Harvard) is born deaf. He is raised by his single-mom and his grandfather Stanley Leroy McCoy (Raymond J. Barry). His grandfather refuses to accept his deafness and pushes Matt in life including into wrestling. Matt is bullied which often leads to violence. He asks Michelle to prom but it does not go well. His Purdue college life goes badly and he ends up working at the garage for his grandfather. He goes to Rochester Institute of Technology and has roommate Jay 'Mr. Clean' Jakubowski as best friend. He starts dating deaf activist Kristi Jones (Shoshannah Stern) as he works to be a National Collegiate Champion.This is a biopic of a niche personality done in a relative standard straight forward way. It's an interesting life but not necessarily world shattering. The most interesting part is his deafness. The first intriguing scene is Matt trying to follow Michelle and her girlfriend's conversation in the car. It's a small window into his world. It also shows a possible way to make this movie truly original. It could make this an immersive world where the audience gets to feel with Matt as much as follow his life. In that way, the prom incident works well. Raymond J. Barry is great and Russell Harvard is a functional deaf actor.

Not really plot spoilers, but i do talk about how they show some of the plot.I was lucky enough to catch this movie while it was on the limited run (nov 2nd). It was on par with other great sports movies, or I should say deliver a total knock out to those other 'underdog' movies. But this film is more then just another run of mill story. From the very opening scene I know I was in for something special. The story is touching and watching the day to day issues was inspiring. I really enjoyed the use of muted sounds, no sound at all, and complete true audio. The captions were used for not only the normal use (helping get the spoken and signed language to those who did know) but also helped move the story along. I am wishing for a longer run, or a DVD release. Of course now all of the people in my Deaf Communication Studies classes want to see the film.Well acted, perfectly directed!

Hamill is such a great movie! Breaking the barriers between the Deaf Community to the hearing. I loved the subtitles throughout the entire movie. Giving a new perspective into both sides worlds.The writing, editing, music and cast were all excellent! I wish I could see the movie again and bring all my friends and family this time. A must see inspirational heart warming movie. Russ Hamilton performance was outstanding! I'm not a big wrestling fan, but this movie goes way beyond the wrestling storyline. It shows a mans determination to succeed and live his dream.Shot in my home town of Rochester NY; this movie helps to also educate people about the NTID programs available to the hearing impaired students at the Rochester Institute of Technology. RIT - National Technical Institute for the Deaf - NTID is the world's largest technical college for deaf students. This movie is great for audiences of all ages!

Hamill did something no other movie has ever done. It is no small feat to make the audience cry at a movie, nor is it easy to bring a cast of actors alive to where you genuinely care about the characters being portrayed. Those are all hard things to do and are necessary for a great movie... but they are not unique. The genius of Hamill was the ability to place the hearing audience in a deaf perspective. It reminded me of Momento. You're watching a movie and then all of a sudden you're missing a few words here and there, you know something juicy is happening, but you can't hear. In many ways, the deaf audience has an easier time following the movie than the hearing. Nonetheless, the movie was a fun story with an amazing supporting cast... ESPECIALLY MICHAEL SPADY!