Title: The Program
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Stephen Frears
Starring: Ben Foster, Chris O’Dowd, Guillaume Canet
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins

What It Is: Lance Armstrong was but a normal cyclist when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Following the loss of one of his testes, he quite literally got back on the horse. Having a changed body following this disease and with the help of Michele Ferrari Armstrong begins a program that will lead him and his United States Postal Service cycling team to victory. Seven Tour De France wins and several million Livestrong wristbands later everything may not have been exactly as it seems.

What We Think: Ben Foster is a freaking star! Not only is he a freaking arrogant jerk, but he plays that public side of Armstrong to a tee. There is a certain scumminess to Foster’s whole demeanor. Jesse Plemons plays cyclist and whistleblower Floyd Landis, and he also just continues to impress. Chris O’Dowd seems a bit underused but that is through no fault of his own. This film loses a couple of points for its factual smudging. It seems to focus far too much on painting Armstrong as an unmitigated asshole, which may be a bit of a stretch, or not. Frears really tries to pep up the whole affair with some flashy cuts and font but it feels far more out of place than it does anything else.

Our Grade: C+, Ben Foster is enough to hand this a passing grade. This guy continues to impress the hell out of me. There isn’t much more to say outside of the fact that I’ll recommend this if you are really interested in watching this story told from a bit of a skew. Sure there’s a bias but it is such a well-told story and Frears handles it well enough that you might not even notice. A couple of good performances outside of Foster keep the score above passing.