Review: Melissa Rauch and team go for the gold but miss the mark in ‘The Bronze’

There’s a rich vein of humor to be mined from America’s national obsession with elite women’s gymnastics and the sickly sweet image of America’s Olympic sweethearts. Those scrunchies! Those warm-up suits! Those rabid coaches! Husband-and-wife writing team Melissa and Winston Rauch take on these petite and perky powerhouses with their darkest of dark comedy, “The Bronze,” directed by Bryan Buckley.

“The Big Bang Theory’s” Melissa Rauch has perfected her pinched and pursed characterization of Hope Ann Greggory, a Kerri Strug-type who fought her way through injury to score a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics. Rauch’s Hope is a tiny blond with a foul mouth and a black heart.

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Still the toast of her tiny hometown of Amherst, Ohio, she terrorizes her father, Stan (Gary Cole), and anyone who crosses her path, dining out on what’s left of her fame, boozing, drugging and sleeping around, ubiquitous ponytail and sweatsuit firmly in place.

Hope reluctantly takes on the task of coaching Amherst’s newest rising gymnast, the exuberant and innocent Maggie (Haley Lu Richardson), though Hope struggles with the thought of someone else appropriating her local star status. However, she’s also deeply competitive, and her desire to show up national team coordinator Lance Tucker (Sebastian Stan) proves powerful.

The writers Rauch lean in hard on Hope’s potty-mouthed aggression, mining the cognitive dissonance between her diminutive and cutesy appearance and her steady torrent of profanity. There are a few clever jokes and humdinger filthy one-liners, but it can be difficult to laugh at some of the verbal abuse.

The best moments are those opposite Stan, whose character Lance doesn’t take any guff from Hope, giving it right back. Their competitive tete-a-tete is satisfying to watch and explains the most about the world that shaped her. You wish for more of their no-holds-barred mat-side rivalry during the culminating competition.

The protagonist’s unlikable routine is too high a degree of difficulty to execute flawlessly. Without an adequate explanation for Hope’s brutally acid-tongued antics, there’s no justification for why the characters she roasts inexplicably love her. Her grinchy heart does begin to grow, but the redemption is rather too little, too late.

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‘The Bronze’

Running time: 1 hour, 48 minutes

MPAA rating: R, for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout and some drug use

Playing: In general release

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service critic.