Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story

By:
In-House Review - Jan 01 1900

The hunky, eminently watchable Mario Lopez graduates from TV's guilty pleasure "Saved by the Bell" only to fail in this flat telemovie about the troubled life of Olympic winning diver Greg Louganis. The film, based on Louganis' autobiography, chronologically follows him from his tumultuous childhood with his adopted parents, through his young adulthood when dyslexia, low self-esteem and his long-hidden homosexuality combined to make his personal life miserable despite his athletic ability and success as a competitor. This should have made for more riveting viewing, but the bombastic soundtrack, awkward direction, tepid acting and "seen-it-all-before" story line (a youth overcomes adversity) limits interest. The strongest aspect is actually Greg's acceptance of being gay. Because of his personal demons, caused primarily be his own low self-worth, we watch as Greg destroys his college romance (Jonathan Scarfe) and then later suffers under his gay Svengali Tom. That latter relationship, one in which Tom inflicted both mental and physical abuse on Greg, is done quite well. But any drama will fail when its protagonist spends 90% of the time acting out his "victim persona" unable to confront his demons. And this being television, there is no visual sign of gay love other than a brotherly kiss on the forehead by Tom to Greg. Mario Lopez is a pleasure to leer at (er, watch) but can't do much with the role. The real Greg Louganis is seen in archival footage of his Olympic diving and at the end of the film.