This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

As a big sports fan (with football near the top of that list), I am usually a sucker for these kinds of movies. I can watch "We Are Marshall" at just about any time, I enjoyed every episode of "Friday Night Lights", and am easily "hooked in" by an inspiring sports tale. Unfortunately, I found "When The Game Stands Tall" to be a bit sup-par in the area of truly firing my emotions.For a basic plot summary, this movie tells the story of the De La Salle high school Spartans, who at one point in their history enjoyed a consecutive win streak of 151 games in their football program. But what happens when the cart ends up in front of the horse and the streak overshadows the true nature of high school football? That is the issue that Coach Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel) wrestles with for nearly the entire film.For those who have not watched a ton of sports fiction, you may rate this better than I. It is an inspiring story, to be sure, and the film does a good job of "telling it straight". It covers all the right ground and hits all the notes that a film like this needs to do in order to be successful.The problem? Never once during "When The Game Stands Tall" did I truly feel emotionally invested in the proceedings. I think this was for a number of reasons, one of which simply being that I've seen better in other films/TV shows. There is nothing about "Game" that sets it above (or really even apart) from other fare besides the true story it is telling. Even the acting was a bit shaky for me. None of the players stood out, while Caviezel isn't given an opportunity to really emote. I know he CAN as I've seen him do it in other films, but I felt like this time he spoke in the same, measured voice he is known for and always had the same expression on his face. I wanted to like him more and get a better understanding of what "made him tic", but this movie would always seem to pull away and instead just skim the surface.Thus, "When The Game Stands Tall" ended up being a 2.5 star movie for me. I was really excited to see it going into the theater, but that excitement did not translate into the greatest movie experience. I can appreciate the story and why director Thomas Carter wanted to put it up on the big screen, but I wish I could have FELT more and THOUGHT less while I was watching.

Over the past several years, the sports genre has been slowly grown more and more dull as the year goes by, with many films of the genre driven by almost nothing more than common sports tropes. Fortunately, the triumphant nature of these films hasn't stop audiences everywhere from buying a ticket to see an inspiring story of a high school overcoming odds to claim their victory, and for fair reasons. When a film has a heart, it's only destiny is to win the hearts of undemanding family audience. In this case, clichéd doesn't automatically mean not entertaining. Based on true events, When The Game Stands Tall follows the story of Bob Ladouceur (played by Jim Caviezal), a long-time and soft-spoken coach of the the De La Salle High School football team in Concord, California who made legacy in American sports with a 151 game-winning streak, the biggest record ever held in the history of American sports. When tragedy strikes the team and they face a defeating loss for the first time, their faith and their dreams are put to the test where they must learn how to overcome loss and get back on their feet. Featuring a likable cast of Michael Chiklis, Alexander Ludwig, Clancy Brown, Laura Dern, Matthew Daddario, Joe Massingill, Ser'Darius Blain, Stephen James, and Richard Kohnke; this film brings together a heart-warming and inspirational tale of a football's team determination and hopefulness, while challenging a typical sports movie clichés.This movie certainly doesn't offer anything new to the table of sports-related dramas. As far as football-themed films go, this one seems to burn through nearly every cliché that many sports movies are known for, including a major plot point where a character is tragically is killed and a subplot of a family dispute relating to duty of working with a football team, how many times we seen this before? Most of the characters are barely distinguishable with the exception of Alexander Ludwig's character Chris Ryan, an eager player who suffers from emotional abuse from his father who only cares about his son's touchdown records. With all this said, the lack of innovation put into this story will likely indulge viewers into more déjà vu than inspiration. On the other hand, audience who've grown fond of sports movies won't help but pleased by the film's messages of treating your team as a family and the heart- touching story of how the team learns to overcome the obstacles that get in the way of their goals. There is also a little bit of a Christian undertone to it that will likely satisfy viewers, and the film does a great job at delivering a message about hope and teamwork without being overly preachy or forcefully shoving the message down your throat. Lastly, the performances are great to say the least. Jim Caviezel really makes a strong impression as the coach who deeply cares of his team, while trying to balance his relationship with his wife. The rest of actors do a decent job as well, though nothing particularly outstanding to speak of.When The Game Stands Tall is certainly nothing original, but it is quite entertaining and pleasing to watch. It is a film that can surely inspire viewers and fill them with great messages. Looking for a good family movie? This one is worth a try.

The inspirational sports movie genre always musters up a successful box office receipt and draws large crowds to the theater over the weekend. From films like 'Remember the Titans' to 'Glory Road' to even 'Miracle', these movies had great performances, cohesive story telling, excellent action scenes, and a powerful message that was executed very well to pull our heart strings and entertain us in the span of two hours. I really wish that I could say the same for Thomas Carter's adaptation of the real life story of the De La Salle Spartan football team in his film 'When The Game Stands Tall'.I'm sure the studio was banking on the high school crowd to spend their hard earned money on this one, but with its bad story telling, cheesy dialogue, and terrible acting, I'm thinking this film is a few yards short of a touchdown. Director Thomas Carter has a pretty impressive resume. With films like 'Swing Kids', 'Coach Carter', 'Save the Last Dance', and 'Metro'; you know he is fully capable of making something great, but it seems like he was asleep at the wheel for this outing.'When the Game Stands Tall' follows the real life De La Salle Spartan football team where real life coach Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel) has led his team along with his assistant coach Terry Eidson(Michael Chiklis) to a record shattering 151 straight wins in a row back in 2003. But the film doesn't capture the moments of their impressive winning streak. Instead it picks up around 2004, where their streak is broken due to one of their teammates being murdered before heading off to college on a major scholarship, Coach Ladouceur having a major heart attack, and another teammate who has lost his whole family and has become an orphan. It's a lot to take in, and I feel like we would have taken this journey with these characters, but the performances were all too bland.Underneath all of the blood, sweat, and tears of the his football program, is a very religious undertone, which the studio neglected to show in their trailers. De La Salle High School is in fact a very religious Catholic High School where Ladouceur not only coaches the football team, but teaches the Gospel to his students, which he incorporates onto the field as well. There is not ten minutes that goes by where we don't have a religious and somewhat inspiring speech by the coach, no matter if it is about coming together as a football team to play the perfect game, picking yourself up after a loss, or deciding to take a better job, we are hit over the head with these monologues so much so that we are taken away from the true story here.Even when the football team is forced to spend the day at a veteran rehab facility, where they see newly wounded and amputated soldiers healing, who still have the sense of humor and will to push themselves to learn to walk and talk again in order to teach these high school football players about brotherhood and picking yourself back up, you can't help but feel its cheesiness. The two plot points of the film that I thought were actually worth exploring, weren't explored at all, which was Ladouceur's wife played by the lovely Laura Dern, who does a sincere job, but given the bad script can only go so far, and is left on the sidelines, except only when she encourages her husband to take a college coaching job. The other is with one of the star football players on the team and his dad who is an abusive and mean son-of-a- bitch who thinks that winning is the only thing in life and if his son doesn't bring home the gold, he'll pay for it in bruises. Again, we see glimpses of these aspects, but it never really goes anywhere.Perhaps the one thing that Carter did extremely well here was the camera-work on the football field, which oddly enough, he had someone else direct. You can feel every hit, tackle and take down, as if it were happening to you. It's brutal, fast paced, and well edited, as you'll always be able to follow what's happening on the field. It was the highlight of the movie. It seems like Caviezel lost his ability to act in this film, as he is always an emotionless robot, void of showing any sentiment to whatever is happening around him. Chiklis is always funny and gives it his all and the rest of the football team do a decent job, but nobody is stand out. Sure, it's impressive that the real life high school football team won 151 games in a row and that the message here is a good message, but with the bland acting and its terrible script and poor execution, this game certainly doesn't stand tall.

I am a huge fan of Jim Caviezel but put off seeing the movie because I wasn't up for a sports themed movie and wasn't sure I wanted the soppy tears. The glories of football just don't do anything for me and so then to have football be meaningful? Eeehhh....However, the day came that there was nothing else at redbox. Boy, this was sure one movie I shouldn't have waited on! I even loved all the football scenes! This isn't just a sports story, it's a life story. The coach is incredible at teaching and inspiring the team, but somehow has a hard time relating to his family in the same way. He has a true and sincere desire to help teen boys become quality young men, and does a great job of it at school, but then has some difficulty doing the same with his own boys. What parent can't relate at some point to being able to communicate better sometimes with other people's children than with your own? Despite his great example and efforts, not all the boys are saints. Some are more than a bit spoiled with the fame of their winning streak. Some are phenomenal kids and they make you see why he was so determined to do what he could to help them all become the best they could be. As a football coach, he is clearly excellent, as evidenced by their winning streak. However, he was also excellent at teaching the boys that winning was not the goal, becoming the best they could be was the goal. It sounds Hallmark card schmaltzy, but it's true none the less and the method of teaching was clearly so sincere and honest that you couldn't but help wishing this guy could come to your school and teach your kids - in anything - just so that they learned from him.The school was a private religious school, the coach also taught religion. If you like to pretend that God doesn't exist and that people who believe in Him are nuts, this is not the show for you. This is based on a true story, these people have a faith and they practice it. It's in the movie. It isn't my faith but I'm always delighted to see other people faithfully practicing what they believe - principals of love and charity and faith and empathy. I do wish they had delved just a little more into some of the players lives. I guess it makes sense that for a team that big, you really can only introduce a couple of the players very well in the constraints of one movie, but still, it would have been good. Also, as one of the other reviewers mentioned, I would have liked to find out a little more about where the players who had the focus in the movie ended up in their lives. A great film, for sports fans and non-sports fans alike! Excellent actors picked for each role. I even liked Laura Dern and that is a stretch for me. Really excellent film, it kind of shocks me that Hollywood produced something this clean, inspiring, funny, and engaging but I'm glad they did!