"4 Minute Mile," a movie about a high schooler whose running talent might be the key to a better life, opens Friday in 10 U.S. cities and Toronto. The film has been available as video on demand since July 1.

Kelly Blatz stars as the inner-city prep runner who appears headed for trouble thanks to being manipulated into doing a different type of running, namely, drug running. Kim Basinger stars as his mother who has too much else going on to help her son. Richard Jenkins plays the coach who recognizes the boy's running talent and tells him a really fast mile is his ticket out.

We haven't seen the whole movie. From what we've seen, we can say that the geekier of the running geeks among us will find quibbles with some of the running elements, as commonly occurs in fictional running films. For starters, Blatz looks fit, but not like someone ready to join the likes of Jim Ryun and Alan Webb as high school sub-4:00 milers. Of course, most people watch movies more to see a good story than to score the director's accuracy on details. (Update: Running Times editor-in-chief Jonathan Beverly watched the movie and came to similar conclusions in his review.)

The exclusive clip below shows the coach subjecting his charge to one of his tough-love unorthodox workouts.

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Scott Douglas Scott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times.

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