Movie marketing is a crapshoot in 2025, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when I saw Green and Gold advertised all over Culver’s one day over my lunch break. Indeed, even the trailer and promotional poster for the feel-good flick about a guy who bets his farm on a Packers Super Bowl win features the phrase “brought to you by Culver’s” prominently.  Anyway, as a Wisconsinite, I felt obligated to check it out.

​

If you watch the trailer, you won’t be surprised by the film. What you see is pretty much what you get. Apparently based on true events, it tells the story of a small-time dairy farmer named Buck (Craig T. Nelson) whose entire livelihood is on the line. Dangling dangerously close to foreclosure, he’s running out of options and is dealing with a weirdly sadistic debt collector (Tim Frank) who seems to revel in mocking Buck’s dire financial straits. Woven into this drama is a b-plot focused on Buck’s granddaughter Jenny (Madison Lawlor) who is conflicted about whether she wants to inherit the family farm or pursue her dreams of becoming a singer. That’s a lot of melodrama for a family who spends their days milking cows.

​

I’ll start with the good stuff. It’s admirable that a movie about a Wisconsin dairy farm was actually shot in Wisconsin, when so many other studios would opt for Canada… Atlanta…or wherever else to streamline production. The acting was also surprisingly good. I mean, Craig T. Nelson is an absolute legend, and I had no trouble separating him from his iconic character in Coach as he portrayed a grumpy rural farmer. His ever-present, beat-up Packers hat was also a nice touch. Plus, I only caught two instances of product placement throughout the entire film which shows a surprising amount of restraint on Culver’s part.

​

My biggest gripe with Green and Gold is that the main plot of the movie – the “bet” Buck makes with that sleazy debt collector to win his farm back if the Packers win the Super Bowl – was never a real bet to begin with. The guy himself even says he was just joking, so watching Buck and Jenny behave as if this was a real possibility feels strange. His disappointment at the Packers’ loss (not a spoiler because this is literally modern sports history) seems silly since we know the bet was not sincere. I also could have used less singing from Lawlor. She’s got a nice voice, but one song would have been plenty.

​

Green and Gold is comfortable and familiar family-friendly fodder that your mom and dad would probably like. Not great… not terrible… and as sickeningly sweet as a double scoop of Culver’s caramel fudge cookie dough custard. Catch it on VOD, but don’t be in a hurry about it.