Chasing Comets

Story

Chasing Comets is a semi-autobiographical movie written by retired rugby league player Jason Stevens. It’s set in the town of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales and tells the story of young NRL champion Chase Daylight (Dan Ewing) navigating the macho footy lifestyle and finding his way towards Christian faith.

Chase lives with his mother and plays for the local rugby team, the Comets, who aren’t going very well. His best mate, Rhys (Stan Walker), plays AFL, and together they like to party hard. When Chase realises that his partying lifestyle might be affecting not only his game but also his relationship with girlfriend Brooke (Isabel Lucas), he starts reflecting on his priorities. An encounter with the local reverend (George Houvardas), a man who understands Chase’s troubles from personal experience, sets Chase on the path towards faith. Despite temptations and challenges along the way, Chase keeps trying to turn his life around.

Themes

Sport; Christian faith; relationships; sex outside of marriage and abstinence; absent fathers; macho attitudes

Violence

Chasing Comets has some violence. For example, Chase shoves another man in the chest in a threatening way because he sees the man talking to his girlfriend. He says he does it because he thinks that the other man is ‘hitting’ on his girlfriend, even though this isn’t the case.

Sexual references

Chasing Comets has many sexual references. For example:

A woman wakes up in bed after a one-night stand with Chase. He asks her to climb out the window because he’s embarrassed by her.
Rhys kisses his girlfriend passionately and asks her for ‘a quickie’ before he goes to play play football.
Chase talks about how he needs to avoid distraction, while slow-motion footage of cheerleaders plays.
Rhys introduces Chase to some girls in a bar as ‘Big Chase, because he’s got a really big ... heart’.
Rhys and Chase go home with some women from the bar to have one-night stands.
The coach is talking to his team about their game. He says, ‘They pulled our pants down out there boys, and not in a good way’.
In the locker room, one of the players urinates on another player’s leg and says, ‘It’s just a little golden shower! Everyone is doing it!’

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Chasing Comets shows some use of substances. For example, adults drink alcohol in bars or in their homes.

Nudity and sexual activity

Chasing Comets has no scenes with explicit sexual activity, but it’s often implied that it is about to happen or has just happened. There are some scenes with nudity or partial nudity:

Men shower together after a football game, but they’re shown only from the waist up.
In the last scene two men take their clothes off, but there’s a black square covering their genitals.

Product placement

Nothing of concern

Coarse language

Chasing Comets has some coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Chasing Comets is a warm-hearted movie that tackles some common issues faced by young men, especially young men involved in sports clubs. One issue is the temptation to have meaningless sexual encounters and shallow, disrespectful relationships with women. The movie has a strong moral plotline that encourages young people to wait until they’re married to have sex, but it isn’t evangelical or judgmental of people who don’t choose this path.

The movie is aimed at teenagers and young adults, and younger children might find it a little boring.

The main messages from Chasing Comets are that young people should wait until they’re married to have sex. The movie also suggests that belief and faith in Christianity can help you make the right choices in life.

Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include the importance of meaningful and respectful relationships between men and women.