For all its trailblazing tradition, Sundance has on occasion been accused of selecting opening-night films that have been less than buzz-worthy. That may have been on the
minds of programmers who decided this year to start things off with a bang, specifically
The Bronze. Directed by award-winning commercial director Bryan Buckley and written by Melissa and Winston Rauch, the raunchy comedy tells the tale of Hope Annabelle Greggory – an ex bronze medal-winning gymnast (played by Rauch) who has had to abandon dreams of golden glory after a career-ending injury. Suffering from a severe case of arrested development, Hope is stuck in a loop, reliving her past glory as a hometown hero to her small Midwestern town. Her latent bitterness takes a turn for the surly worse when a younger girl shows the promise of equaling and surpassing her Olympic achievement. It is an inspired conceit and Rauch (heretofore best known for her standup routines and her role as Bernadette on The Big Bang Theory) plays it to the hilt beginning with the uproarious opening scene in which we find Hope in bed, dressed in her perennial stars-and-stripes warm-ups indulging in a most – ehm – enthusiastic form of nostalgia, as she once again replays her Olympic performance on the VCR. The narcissism and the language she employs with her all-too-obliging single dad paint a picture of monumental self-absorption that is hilariously tested when deft plot twists assure that she is cast as unwilling coach to her upstart rival.
 
The storyline makes for a hilarious trope, albeit one that is difficult to evenly sustain, given the farcical register of the character, which could best be described an unholy cross of Mary Lou Retton and Jersey Shore’s Snooki, and her extreme un-likeability as played by Rauch at times tests the limits of audience endurance. Hope’s antics are bounced off a game supporting cast including veteran Gary Cole, newcomer Haley Lu Richardson, Sebastian Stan and Silicon Valley’s excellent Thomas Middleditch. And the scenes that work are truly hysterical. This includes an acrobatic sex scene between medal-winning gymnasts that cinema surely has been waiting for and which is sure to henceforth enter Sundance lore. In any case
The Bronze marks Rauch’s auspicious entry into the R-rated comedy world and we expect to hear a lot more from this fresh new talent.