Ride Like a Girl – Review

Ride Like a Girl

Directed by: Rachel Griffiths

Runtime: 98 minutes

In 2015, Michelle Payne made Australian sport history when she won the Melbourne Cup. Becoming the first female jockey to ever win the title in the cup’s 155-year history. She took advantage of her spotlight after the race to tell everyone who doubted her to “…get stuffed, because they think women aren’t strong enough and we just beat the world”. Rachel Griffiths tackles this modern Australian sport story about defying the odds put on you and becoming a champion in her directorial debut, Ride Like a Girl.

Ride Like a Girl chronicles the life of Michelle Payne up to when she races in the Melbourne Cup. She’s the youngest of ten children being raised by their father Paddy. Their mother, Mary, passed away when Michelle was six months old, leaving only Paddy to raise the kids by himself. The entire Payne family love horse racing, and most of the kids become professional jockeys, with their father acting as their mentor. Michelle dreams to follow in her family’s lineage and to one day win the Melbourne Cup. And she does, and that’s the end of the film. Roll the credits. Happy ending. Dreams do come true. But no, although we know the ending to this story, Michelle’s journey to the cup is filled with many trials with her family, the horse racing industry, and herself.

Early in the film some issues already start appearing, particularly in delivery and presentation. Most character interactions are used to force exposition onto the audience in a way that doesn’t feel like natural conversation. Many of the scene transitions between locations are just written at the bottom of the screen in a bland Ariel font. A time skip happens later on, and intertitles are used again to display Michelle’s career stats. Is that all we get? No short montage or anything? It feels like more engaging techniques could have been used here to make these moments far more interesting.

The film’s pacing feels too fast. Which in turn, makes much of the editing and scene transitions feel rough. Jumping constantly from locale to locale every five minutes gets tiring. This all may sound nit-picky, but it’s little issues like these that quickly build up over time and become encumbering when you reach the tail-end of the film.

The script can be a bit too heavy handed at times. When characters aren’t giving stilted exposition, they’re drawing from a bargain bin of inspirational quotes that you’d see on those motivational posters hung up in your boss’ office. This, once again, makes plenty of scenes and character interactions feel awkward and unnatural.

Despite my issues with the script and the way some story is presented, the main cast deliver great performances that help carry you through the film. Teresa Palmer is excellent as Michelle Payne, conveying both Michelle’s flaws and vulnerabilities. She’s childish, she acts with reckless abandon for herself and her family, and she pushes herself to crazy physical and mental extremes. It’s interesting to see when her obsessions with victory and defying industry expectations start to disrupt her life. She knowingly damages her family relationships and her health in the process. These moments are by far the most interesting aspects of the film and I wish they were explored a little deeper. Even so, they’re a definite highlight.

Sam Neill gives a strong performance as father Paddy. Straddling the line between a parent and coach, he brings plenty of nuances to his performance, which makes for a complicated and well-realised character. Stevie Payne also shines through with a great performance of himself. His close bond with Michelle is incredibly endearing to watch. He helps to ground Michelle when she needs it, and his self-aware humour also gives some nice light when it’s needed.

Unfortunately, the supporting ensembles don’t perform as well as the main cast. Their performances generally range from okay to mediocre. As I’ve mentioned, they’re usually used for exposition, or quick punchlines that don’t really land. Luckily, they don’t overstay their welcome. Or really do anything of importance to the film, for that matter.

In the end, Ride Like a Girl has plenty of shortcomings, plagued with a collection of small issues that continue to appear and start to amplify as you continue watching. Luckily, the leading cast’s performances do manage to help you get through these annoyances as well. And despite these shortcomings, you can’t help but get chills running down your spine when she dashes passed the finish line, and the crowd erupts with thunderous applause.