Why so much hype?

Memorable, crazy movie

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Yes she was mostly likable and she is pleasant to look at but the movie is just awful. It seems like one mission of this was to promote her for future work, I don't think it worked even though she seems more than capable. We have seen the small town hero have to go back and work before, this 1986 update to the theme was unnecessary from a movie watchers point of view. It timely exploited the seemingly great guy Gaylord as an American hero, which is certainly is/was. As a high school gymnast I was excited to see it but other than the gymnastics this film is pitiful. The filming/editing of the gymnastics was very good. Watch for the gymnastics but expect nothing else.

'American Anthem' is an awful sports melodrama starring Olympic gold medal gymnast Mitch Gaylord and Mrs. Wayne Gretzky as... gymnasts. From the director of 'Purple Rain', covering many of the same themes, but without Prince's music to bolster it. There was potential for some cheesy fun here, but the whole thing gets so bogged down in its family melodrama that any fun is sucked right out of it.Gaylord certainly had teen idol looks, but his acting had less range than a slingshot. But in his defense no actor could've done anything with this drivel. Even the montages are lame, and for an 80s film that's a no-no.

I personally thought this movie had integrity and strength throughout from beginning to end. It showed the battles young people have to face to live up to not only others expectations of them but their own expectations of themselves. Some tasks are harder than others and its normally because either you don't feel your good enough or you don't feel others see you as good enough. If you give up you never find out if you really did have it in you to succeed. This movie did an awesome job of representing that. The gymnasts in the movie were excellent, the acting was top notch. The fact that they did film the movie in an old run down building and still made it into a wonderful experience is amazing. I would love to see more movies just like this to show to my own kids. It shows them to never give up on your dreams. That is why I loved this movie.

A dull film that tried to capitalize on the craze the U.S. had with the Summer Olympics of 1984 in Los Angeles, but came way too late to make any impression with movie audiences. "American Anthem"'s stars are much more interesting than the film itself which is a dud to put it mildly. The movie focuses on a young man (Mitch Gaylord) who gets the itch to compete in gymnastics again after meeting the new girl in town (Janet Jones). She is training for the Olympic trials and of course he starts to compete once again just basically to be with her more. A corny production that has no real pep at all. Gaylord, a former Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics, proved to be a bust as a leading man. He would later appear in a few soft-core direct-to-video adult productions and become a stunt man for several other films (most notably "Batman Forever"). Janet Jones would later marry all-world hockey star Wayne Gretzky after this film. That is her claim to fame, not "American Anthem". Turkey (0 stars out of 5)