Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Housewife and mother Penny Chenery agrees to take over her ailing father's Virginia-based Meadow Stables, despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. Against all odds, Chenery - with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin - manages to navigate the male-dominated business, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years.
Secretariat is a competent, crowd-pleasing sports biopic that hits familiar beats of the underdog-triumph formula. The story of Penny Chenery and the legendary horse is inherently compelling, but the screenplay takes a conventional, sanitized approach that smooths over complexity in favor of inspirational uplift. Diane Lane delivers a warm and capable lead performance, and John Malkovich adds some color as the eccentric Laurin, but neither rises to truly memorable heights. The racing sequences are well-shot with kinetic energy, though the overall visual palette is unremarkable for a Disney production. As a biopic, it follows well-worn genre conventions without bringing a distinctive voice or fresh perspective to the material, making it feel interchangeable with other inspirational sports dramas of its era. The ending, built around the iconic 1973 Belmont Stakes, carries genuine emotional weight simply by virtue of the historical record, but the film doesn't fully earn the catharsis through its dramatic buildup.