The Way Back: The 5 Best Characters (& 5 Fans Can’t Stand)

Gavin O’Connor’s The Way Back is one of the most uplifting cinematic redemption stories to be released in the past calendar year. Drawing on personal experience, Ben Affleck has garnered rave reviews for his performance as Jack Cunningham, a Midwestern blue-collar worker with crippling alcohol addiction.

After separating from his wife and losing his son to illness, Jack channels his past glory as a high school basketball star by agreeing to coach the underperforming current team. Along his redemptive path, Jack encounters a series of positive and negative people who either help or hinder his progress to become a better man.

10 Doc – Best

After Jack agrees to coach the varsity basketball team for his alma mater Bishop Hayes High School, his ex-wife Angela pays him a visit and tells him news that triggers his alcoholic addiction. Fortunately, Jack has Doc (Glynn Turman) to lean on.

Doc isn’t so much a codependent as he is a genuine caretaker. When Jack drinks himself into a daily stupor, Doc is the one who drives him home every night and makes sure he is safe and sound.

9 Father Devine – Worst

While Father Edward Devine (John Aylward) is the one who solicits Jack to become the new coach of Bishop Hayes, he does so more out of his desire to restore glory to the school rather than to help a wayward Jack.

Toward the end of the film, Father Devine shows little compassion by firing Jack from the coaching position when he arrives for practice late and a little tipsy. The move would be more understandable if Jack hadn’t just led the team to their first playoff victory in decades.

8 Beth – Best

One of the positive forces in Jack’s life is his caring sister Beth (Michaela Watkins). Beth is not only there for Jack in his darkest days, but she’s also honest enough to tell him what he doesn’t want to hear, even if it’s for the best.

Beth is present at the beginning of the story to inform Jack that his closest loved ones are concerned about his drinking, and is the first one who greets Jack when he awakens in the hospital following a drunken binge at the end of the film.

7 Marcus – Worst

The starting center for the Bishop Hayes basketball team, Marcus Parrish (Melvin Gregg), also evolves as a character throughout the film. At first, he’s extremely unlikable due to his poor attitude and lack of cooperative teamwork.

As a result of arriving late to their next game, Jack kicks Marcus off of the team. However, Marcus does see the error of his ways and pleads to accepted back on the team when he makes a personal visit to Jack’s house.

6 Miguel – Best

When Bishop Hayes begins to find success on the court, Jack begins to decrease his alcoholic intake. This frees him up to spend more time with his friends, including the sympathetic and grief-stricken Miguel (Sal Velez Jr.).

Jack attends the birthday party for Miguel’s son, David (Justice Alan), whose cancer diagnosis is revealed to be in remission. Later, David’s cancer returns. The news hurts Jack because his son Michael was in the hospital with David as a boy before succumbing to cancer.

5 Daniel – Worst

At first blush, Dan (Al Madrigal) seems like a stand-up guy. As the school’s algebra teacher and assistant coach of the basketball team, Dan welcomes Jack in the beginning but slowly turns on him as the story advances.

Daniel is ultimately responsible for tattling on Jack’s alcoholic relapse to Father Devine. The news results in Jack’s dismissal, which sends him into a self-destructive alcoholic binge that lands him in the hospital.

4 Brandon – Best

The most likable character on the basketball team is Brandon (Brandon Durrett), the shy but super-talented point guard who Jack appoints as team captain. When Brandon accepts the captaincy and grows more confident, he ends up making the game-winning shot versus Memorial in the playoffs.

Brandon’s likability also stems from his troubled home life, which is something Jack identifies with and helps the boy navigate.

3 Russ – Worst

The biggest impediment to Brandon’s success on the basketball court is his disapproving single father, Russ (T.K. Carter), who doesn’t have the time to attend his son’s games.

When Jack confronts Russ, Russ declares that he used to be a college basketball star and has since discouraged Brandon from following in his footsteps. However, Russ fails to realize that the potential in his son outweighs his own as a player and works to dash Brandon’s hopes and dreams.

2 Jack – Best

Although flawed to no end, Jack is the best character in The Way Back. The story revolves around his profound redemption of tapping into his former triumphs to overcome his present troubles while helping young students in the process.

In addition to leading Bishop Hayes to their first playoff win in years, Jack confides to Brandon that he turned down a full athletic scholarship due to his father’s negligent attitude toward his basketball career. Jack never even picked up a basketball after the incident. Yet, the final shot of the movie shows Jack shooting hoops for the first time since.

1 Angela – Worst

While her intentions may have been good, Jack’s estranged wife Angela (Janina Gavankar) picked the worst time to tell him that she is dating someone new. The bombshell causes Jack to increase his alcoholism and descend into a self-destructive spiral.

Angela also informs Jack that David’s cancer has returned, which also triggers his addiction, and fails to visit him in the hospital when he has a major corresponding accident. Still, it is Jack who apologizes to Angela at the end of the film for all the selfish wrongdoing and pain he’s caused.