Of the contestants, it is unassuming family guy Kyle becomes the focus of the story. He’s the target of the mind games played by the alpha males who glower across the flatbed; he’s just naïve enough to believe that failure to win is a failure as a husband and father.
Like a modern version of ‘They Shoot Horses, Don't They?’ the film condemns a society that turns everything into a show and takes advantage of poor people to have fun at their expense.
Carrie Preston is superb as Joan, the organiser, a lonely woman suffering from empty nest syndrome who believes this competition is the highlight of the year.