Home of the Giants

Home of the Giants is a 2007 American sports crime drama film written and directed by Rusty Gorman and starring Haley Joel Osment, Ryan Merriman and Danielle Panabaker. The film has been described as a coming of age tale and sports drama. Plot Like everyone in Riverton, Indiana, seventeen-year-old Robert "Gar" Gartland (Haley Joel Osment) loves his school's basketball team, the Riverton Giants. His best friend, Matt Morrison (Ryan Merriman), is the star of the Riverton Giants. When Matt makes Robert take part in the robbery of a small-time drug dealer, things do not go as planned and Robert faces the challenge of saving the team from a desperate predicament with the state championship and Matt's future on the line. In Indiana, high school basketball is a way of life. This fanaticism serves as a backdrop for a story that explores peer pressure, perspective and the difference between a friend and a hero. Gar believes Matt can do no wrong. While he supports and encourages his best friend's antics, Gar finds himself falling in love with Bridgette, an outsider who does not embrace the celebrity status given basketball players in her new hometown. From high school parties, pep rallies and Hoosier hysteria, to robbing a drug dealer, being stalked and blackmailed, defying a hero and confronting his adversaries, Gar comes to terms with his false belief, and gains a new level of awareness about himself and his hometown. Cast Haley Joel Osment as Robert Gartland Ryan Merriman as Matt Morrison Danielle Panabaker as Bridgette Bachman Kenneth Mitchell as Keith Morrison Brent Briscoe as Prock Stephen Michael Ayers as Coach Gordon Jay Bilas as himself Johanna Braddy as Freshman Wayne Coyne as Barfly Marie Gulliver as Robert's love interest