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Many experts claim that the greatest strain in any relationship is caused by money. Financial stressors act as a litmus test for most couples and families determining whether they will emerge victorious or not. In Jeremy Mitchell’s feature Final Heat, a business couple faces their greatest challenge towards the end of their business venture.
Cam and Laney (played by Brad Benedict and Molly Cerne) operate a gym called The Hollywood Box. As their competitive fitness business is on the verge of shutting down, they seek to seize the last opportunity to stay afloat by winning a nationwide competition. If they succeed, The Hollywood Box will not only remain operational, but it will also feature as the center of a reality show.
Forming a team won’t be a walk in the park. Unlike other gyms, The Hollywood Box is unable to pay their athletes, thus leading to Cam having to compete which is a conflict of interest. At the end of the day, Coach Cam ends up with a bunch of misfits as his team, while Laney provides her assistance as support and a marketing guru to get the public on their side.
The head strife from the group is centered around Kemp (Jeremy Mitchell), who was close with Cam, Laney, and Cam’s brother, who died while in Kemp’s care. When Cam’s brother died, Kemp disappeared, and Cam and Laney were forced to take care of themselves. Understanding that the team desperately needed a ringer, Laney against her better judgment brought Kemp on the team considering that he may have still had feelings for her.
While Final Heat is, at its core, the story of a small-town athlete, it is also a deeply emotional drama that touches on a love triangle between Cam, Laney, and Kemp. Managing a business, dealing with a deep-rooted tragedy, and trying to win a virtually unattainable competition all combine into a spine-chilling tale, which Final Heat certainly does.
The conflict unveils each of the characters differently. All of this stems from the innocent act of suppressing emotions by keeping secrets as a way to protect Cam and Laney from stressing out, but eventually, those secrets pose a threat to the emotional foundation of their relationship. As relationships grow frail, problems strike the moment, when they are least expected, and that’s when all the claws come out, which makes it more personal.
The only drawback for me in Final Heat is its production value. Writer and director Mitchell has a good script but lacks the production Hollywood would provide for the movie to look “cinematic.” From the start, it is guerilla-style filming.
It is told in the form of a crossbreed reality television show. The basic structure of the story is supplemented with clips from the possible reality show with the added element of black and white diary room interviews. This lets some of them be completely honest, brutally honest, and camera honest. I don’t like re-enactments of make-believe reality shows, but Mitchell’s script manages to combine on-screen notes with unscripted speeches. On top of that, Benedict, Cerne, and Mitchell gave everything they had into their emotionally striking performances. And it is striking.
The best part is that the film is gritty and dark sometimes. There is nothing gentle about the history surrounding our trio of heroes, and it isn’t very pretty. But it is real life, and humans need to fight to survive, and they do. While I admit that Final Heat does not take the same road paved by the previous movies, that’s the idea. It keeps viewers off balance in good ways.
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