Having been born and raised in Madison, Indiana, I have long looked forward to seeing this hydroplane racing drama. To my knowledge, it's only the second full length movie ever filmed in my hometown, 1958's "Some Came Running" being the first.

Madison has a phenomenal boat racing tradition and eventually began holding an annual race called the Madison Regatta. Beginning in 1950, the race became affiliated with the American Power Boat Association and is still held annually in early July. Though Madison has a population of only 12,000, the Regatta maintains its place in the Unlimited Hydroplane division of APBA, whose other races are in major and mid-size cities.

The Regatta regularly draws about 70,000-100,000 people and is a tremendous source of pride for residents of the town. A source of less pride but still a significant piece of trivia is that Madison has the world's only community owned unlimited hydroplane, Miss Madison.

That boat, which has also been known in recent years by - surprise, surprise - various corporate sponsor names, is usually near the bottom of the circuit. In 44 years of racing, U-6 - its number regardless of its name - has won just six races.

One of those was an upset in the 1971 Regatta, which is the basis for this movie. Making that victory even sweeter was that it also for the APBA Gold Cup.

Now for the movie!

Written by Hoosier brothers William and Scott Bindley and directed by William, "Madison" runs from preparations for the 1971 season until that year's Regatta. It appears to be semi-low budget but nevertheless professionally done.

If I were completely unfamiliar with the town of Madison and the actual story of Miss Madison in 1971, I probably would enjoy this movie a lot more. But its opening lines "Based on a true story" are a huge exaggeration.

For example, in the movie, Jim McCormick (played by Jim Caviezel) is a member of Miss Madison's crew but hasn't raced since sustaining a serious injury in a race 10 years earlier. He resumes racing for the first time with the '71 Regatta. In real life, McCormick had driven Miss Madison since 1969.

In the movie, Madison wins the rights to host the Gold Cup by a drawing and after a massive struggle obtains the $50,000 needed to secure the race when Mayor Don Vaughn (Paul Dooley) takes money from the town's sanitation department. In real life, according to Miss Madison's web page, "Due to a technicality and a misunderstanding, the $30,000 bid for the race by the sponsoring Madison Regatta, Inc., was the only one submitted in time to the Gold Cup Contest Board."

In the movie, at a town council meeting, a town official states that only 134 tickets had been sold for the Regatta – implying that it would be a struggle to raise the $50,000. That contradicts the movie's accurate portrayal of how popular hydroplane racing is in Madison and furthermore, that year's Regatta drew a crowd of 110,000!

In the movie, Miss Madison's crew labors extensively the night before the race to get the boat in good racing condition but lacks a certain mechanical part. So several members of the crew drive to Columbus, Indiana - about 45 miles northwest - to steal that part out of a war plane that is displayed in front of the court house there! I'm almost 100% sure that never happened or even could have happened!

And in the movie, the final race is far more dramatic than it was in real life.

For a presumably much more accurate version of what happened in real life, check out the following from Miss Madison's web page: http://www.missmadison.com/history/71goldcup_b.htm

Besides the above inaccuracies, the movie also portrays Madison and its residents as being more behind the times than they are, almost as if it's Mayberry.

Still, there's much to like about the movie. It has some well filmed racing scenes, which should look great on the big screen. In addition, the movie shows much of Madison's historic and natural beauty.

But the movie largely focuses on the relationship between McCormick and his son, Mike (Jake Lloyd),who is about 10 years old. Some of the best scenes involve interaction between the two, who are portrayed as very likable small town people who are close. Mike is usually with his father and also often helps the Miss Madison team with menial tasks. I don't know how accurate the portrayal of Jim's and Mike's relationship is but at least it works well as fiction.

The actors/actresses who play the important characters in the movie all do a great job. Besides Caviezel, Lloyd and Dooley, the other best performances include Mary McCormack as Jim's wife Bonnie – who is against Jim's return to racing but of course becomes supportive toward the end – and Bruce Dern as legendary mechanic Harry Volpi.

The movie also does a very good job portraying Madison's love for hydroplane racing and working the classic underdog formula. Appropriately, it uses music from another sports underdog film, "Rudy." To my knowledge, "Madison" contains no original music.

On a side note, because the film is set in 1971, I looked hard for anachronisms. I've found only one. During the aforementioned town council meeting, which takes place in the gymnasium of the high school that I attended, the three point line of the basketball court can clearly be seen. The three point line was not added in Indiana high school basketball until the 1987-88 season!

In conclusion, "Madison" is a very entertaining family movie that has something for everyone to enjoy. But I think it would have worked much better had it been completely fictionalized, as "Hoosiers" was - inspired by but not about a real event. Claiming that something is a true story when it largely isn't is annoying to me. 6/10.

Madison is about Madison, Indiana and the 1971 hydroplane competition where Jim McCormick, the underdog, would bring his small town of about 10,000 residents to host the event much to the chagrin of of the bigger and wealthier surroundings. The film has a feel-good story with Jim Caviezel played Jim McCormick. Mary McCormack played his wife, Mary. The film has a good feeling about David v. Goliath. The cast and crew do a terrific job in recreating the events. Hydroplane racing can be a dangerous sport too on the water.

Through the convincing acting ofJim Caviezel the drama unfolds in a predictable but interesting way. The end is no surprise but the premise is unbelievable.