User Reviews

When the Game Stands Tall is about a football team and includes a lot of football footage, but it is not a football movie. Rather, it is an inspirational movie about life, commitment, and the definition of success. In this manner, it succeeds wildly.

The story would seem predictable: a team achieves 151 wins in a row through incredible talent and maniacal enthusiasm for football. Instead, When the Game Stands Tall dismisses the importance of "The Streak" and focuses on the process and commitment by which it was built. Almost preachy at times, the movie can be forgiven because it captures the true story. Caviezel's depiction of Coach Bob Ladouceur as quiet, humble, and overly-focused is spot-on. Its illustration of the team's "commitment cards" should be seen as a revelation for every other football team, rather than a sappy distraction. The death of Terrance Kelly was shocking and senseless. And DLS players actually do hold hands as they enter the field and graduate spouting words like "brotherhood" and "love".

When the Game Stands Tall is clearly intended as a message movie in a football setting, and it succeeds on both fronts. "Family-appropriate", it makes for enjoyable and worthwhile viewing.

I'm a sucker for sports movies,I played competitive hockey for many years so I can somewhat relate. When The Game Stands Tall is a great movie about sports,teamwork,family and faith. It's a bit different then other sports movies as this team is never really the underdog. For the coach and what they are trying to teach these boys is not football but to give them life lessons that will last them the rest of their life. Teamwork,being hard-working are things that will last you the rest of your life even when you can no longer play football. The football scenes were well shot. This movie is not about any one player it's about a team.

I enjoyed the movie and found it to be very inspiring. But this is not just a football movie, it's a movie about coaching young men to be more than living life for themselves. It's about teammates and brotherhood. That's something that we need a lot more of in this society. For those who criticize the religious aspect of the movie, get over it! This is about a Catholic high school where faith is an important part of who Coach Ladouceur is as a person and what the school is. Don't try to clean God out of everything just so you can avoid thinking about spirituality.

The acting was good, not great. My only real criticism of the movie is that I wish it stayed closer to the true story of the 2004 season. DLS did not play Long Beach Poly in the 2004 season. Bellevue beat DLS without throwing a pass the whole game. And there was nobody named Chris Ryan on the team. A little bit too dramatized for Hollywood.

In addition to football, When the Game Stands Tall is also about life and values. The movie teaches the importance of developing character and virtue so that when you mature you can be someone your loved ones can depend on and you can contribute to a stable society. The movie especially teaches the virtues of faith, hope, love, and courage.

Faith is a personal belief in God. Hope is the desire for God and the trust we will receive grace for the future and to be with Him in heaven. Charity leads us to love God and our neighbor as ourselves. Prudence is a moral virtue which helps us make the right choice in every instance. Justice leads us to respect the rights of others and to give them their due. Fortitude gives us the courage to carry out what is right even in the face of difficulty! Temperance gives us self-control over our desires and appetites.

I saw "When the Game Stands Tall", starring Jim Caviezel-Person of Interest_tv, The Passion of the Christ; Laura Dern-Little Fockers, the Jurassic Park movies; Michael Chiklis-Vegas_tv, the Fantastic Four movies and Clancy Brown-Cowboys & Aliens, Starship Troopers.

This is based on a true story about a high school football coach, Bob Ladouceur, that led the California De La Salle Trojans through a record breaking 151 straight winning streak. Now, if you know me, you know that I am not a big football fan. But I do like a good movie and this one is a good one. Jim plays the coach, a man that wants to teach his players more than just football. He wants them to be a family, to have courage but also have character and honor. Laura plays his devoted wife that wants him to spend more time with his own family, not just the football one. Michael is the assistant coach and Clancy is a rather abusive and selfish father of one of the players that just doesn't seem to understand these so-called values that Jim is installing in his son. The movie also covers what happens after the winning streak is over and how they handle things. During the end credits, they have clips of the real coach Bob. It's rated "PG" for violence and smoking and has a running time of 1 hour & 55 minutes. It's not one that I would buy on DVD, although you probably would, if you are a football fan. It would be a good rental.

I'm not a big athlete, I don't follow any sports and I'm not a "sports guy" but I love a good sports movie. Some of my favourite movies are sports films because they tend to be full of emotion and drama and intensity. Think of all the classic films that revolve around sports in some way. There is something heroic and inspiring about sports films. So when I originally saw the trailer for When The Game Stands Tall I was practically foaming at the mouth. It had all the earmarks of being one of those uplifting, tear inducing films that leave you cheering. For one reason or another I kept putting off watching it, and putting it off and putting it off and finally...MONTHS later, I watched it. Probably it was partially marred by my expectations. That was inevitable. Not that this was a bad movie at all but it didn't set itself above or beyond any other film that has come before it. Some of the performances were very stiff and while I have absolutely no problem with a spiritual film or a Christian message, I think they let it lead the film rather than making it a part of the story and building around those morals. The film is incredibly predictable and doesn't even try to set itself apart.

Jim Caviezel is an excellent actor. We've seen him done some solid roles but this is not one. He is so stiff in this role. I don't know if he's purposely playing the role moody and broody but he barely shows emotion even when he's giving passionate speeches. He seems downright hard and it makes it tough for us as viewers to relate to him and see him as a hero to the kids. He didn't play this role well at all. Michael Chiklis was good but severely underused as the assistant coach. Laura Dern is also very underused as Caviezel's wife. They could have focused on how his career has affected his marriage but she overacts the scenes she is in and that isn't many. The kids are decent but nobody stands out and that is a big problem too. Alexander Ludwig should be the focus but he isn't strong enough to carry the part and he ends up being just okay. Clancy Brown, Matthew Daddario, Joe Massingill, Jessie Usher and Stephan James give some of the more notable performances and they are all good but a movie like this could have given the opportunity for great performances but no one does.

Director Thomas Carter comes from Television and he struggles to really pull this cast together to tell a good story in the window of a feature film. The script just feels clumsy but the morals are certainly there, the story is effective enough and families and young athletes can watch this and get something from it. It would probably be more effective to read about the real coach and real story but this is a good place to start. I certainly don't mean to bash the movie but I had such high expectations because this is really an easy genre to nail. The recipe is clearly cut by many films before it and I'm pretty easy to impress even if it is being predictable. This one was mostly forgettable and I will forever remember waiting so long for it to be just okay. 7/10

It is a fact that the De Lasalle high school football team of Concord, California went undefeated for seasons after season. They set a modern day sports record of 151 victories in a row. It was generally acknowledged that they didn't always have the best raw talent, but through proper coaching and fostering love and teamwork among all the players, they were able to rise to the task, week after week, year after year.

This movie is mostly the story of the coach, Jim Caviezel as Bob Ladouceur. Of his approach to prepare the teenagers for life, to become good and dependable adults. He was asked about "the streak" and his answer was "It was never about the streak."

This is a well-made movie with a good message. Yes, it is a bit sappy at times, and the overbearing dad who insisted that his son break the touchdown record was a bit over-emphasized. But on balance it is a good role for Caviezel and you can't argue with the message.

The biggest problem with this movie is that it's just too darn serious, too darn much of the time--a common problem with modern sports movies. It's football and from what I have seen of the team and the parents (I played baseball in Tri-Valley with some of the dads), De La Salle is serious about the sport, but they also manage to have some fun along the way.

That said, I did enjoy most of the movie, and the story is largely true, if sometimes portrayed in cliché fashion. I've followed it for years in the local papers here in the bay area. The murder was a particularly cruel twist of fate. They didn't need to add the obsessed, domineering father who I'm guessing is supposed to be the "bad guy" in a movie that doesn't have or need one. As to the faith aspect. It's about a Catholic HS football program and integral to the story, so get over it.

All in all, it's not the best, but not the worst sports movie I've ever seen. If you can wade through the more overly-serious scenes, there are some entertaining moments.

BTW, the TD record was fictitious, but the coach retired with 399 wins--and it was to make a point.

When the Game Stands Tall is your stereotypical sports movie that involves a bunch of tragedies, but ends with the De La Salle football team coming out on top. It is a little reminiscent of Friday Night Lights in more ways than one. The cool thing about When the Game Stands Tall is that it is based on a true story, but if you do a little research, it follows the actual story very loosely. If you like sentimental sports movies that are romanticized for the audience's pleasure, this is the movie for you.

When the Game Stands Tall follows nearly the exact same plot as Friday Night Lights. Both movies have a main character that has an abusive, has-been, father that wants to live through his son. In When the Game Stands Tall, one character you follow is Chris Ryan and his over- controlling father who keeps bugging him to get the state record for touchdowns, which is the exact same character line as a player from the movie Friday Night Lights. Another striking similarity in both movies is that both movies have a key player that gets hurt, but sadly in When the Game Stands Tall, the player will never be able to return. In both movies, you follow a team that is supposed to be nearly untouchable, but somehow lose their first two games of the season and will have to rally in order to make the post-season. The movie isn't very original in the fact that it follows about the same storyline as almost every other sports movie out there. You're going to follow a team that will be struck by tragedy after tragedy until finally the team will get on a miraculous win streak and accomplish the goal that seemed nearly impossible through brotherhood and believing in each other. It also has your classic "hero" who is hurt when the team needs him most, but they won't leave the game and the character is going to push through the pain for his team. It's got your fairytale ending to a typical sports movie.

When the Game Stands Tall also doesn't follow the true story all that well. The movie uses bits and pieces of its schools history. For example, in the movie De La Salle plays Cal Poly and wins, but that game had occurred years prior to the setting of the movie. The football team also didn't lose two games in real life; they only lost one and still have a 250 game win streak still going on in California. Also, Chris Ryan, the star running back for De La Salle is a completely fictional character loosely based on Maurice Jones-Drew. The beauty of the director's fictional additions is that they are nearly impossible to detect without doing your own outside research on the topic of the movie. So this movie follows the real-life story slightly, but there are many fictional parts to it to keep the audience engaged yet they will never be able to notice them without prior knowledge of the story.

All in all, this movie won't have you on your toes or guessing what will happen next; its highly predictable and nothing new. I honestly thought it was a good movie, but once I did my own outside research, I was a little disappointed. There are tons of aspects of this movie that I love, but the fact that the director had to change nearly everything about the story really ruins it for me. But, in the movies defense it is a neat story and a great accomplishment for the De La Salle football team, and that might just keep you intrigue.