zkonedog 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.

Screen_Blitz 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.

gmuend84 I grew up in Concord,Ca and what we always felt was unfair is De La Salle is a Private, Catholic High School thus is able to "recruit students"(Basically uber- talented footballers as dumb as rocks) from anywhere in the country because they are not bound by the same restrictions as public High Schools who require students to reside within their designated boundaries. Of course once they begin winning games the School poaches the talent from public High Schools thus creating this superhuman team of talented players. What i find even more offensive is they film the movie in Louisiana, 2500 miles away from where it should have been made which only adds to the unrealistic aspect of the so called "Human dramas" which seem to unfold during the characters portrayals.

Tony Heck "The streak was never our goal." Bob Ladouceur (Caviezel) is the head coach of the De La Salle Spartans, a high school team from California that has won 151 straight games. When they lose the 152nd things start to fall apart. Faced with tragedy on and off the field Coach Ladouceur must find a way to get the team to play together and grow as men. Sports movies are one of my favorite movie genres so I was really looking forward to this. I had high expectations going into this and that may be why I was a little disappointed. The movie was good and worth seeing but I really felt no connection with the players or the coaches. I just wasn't inspired like I was hoping I would be. Movies like Remember The Titans, Coach Carter and Glory Road are some of the recent ones that really gripped me and made me root for the team. There was something missing in this one because I wasn't rooting for anyone. The acting is good and the 2nd half of the movie really picked up though. I loved the ending and thought it was perfect but other than that I have to admit that I haven't been disappointed in a movie like I was in this in a long time. Overall, I'm sure many people will enjoy this but I was very disappointed. I'm not sure what was missing but I wasn't gripped like I wanted to be. I give this a low B.