User Reviews

I hadn't been so touched and overwhelmed by a movie since My Sisters Keeper; it's inspirational, empowering and based on true events. It's a must watch.

The Miracle Season is an inspiring account of a true story. The acting and narration respectfully accommodate the actual people involved. This is sure to be a worthwhile watch for any sports movie fan.

The story follows talented volleyball team, The Women of Troy, as they seek to win the championship. However, a tragic accident results in the death of team leader Caroline Found (Danika Yarosh). As a result, the team disbands in mourning, with coach Kathy (Helen Hunt) trying to lighten and reunite its hopeless members. Caroline's best friend Kelly (Erin Moriarty) chooses to become team leader and respect Caroline by espousing the championship. This results in a grueling training season where all team members must put aside their grief and work together to compete. With extreme stakes at hand, the team must win in order to fully respect Caroline's legacy and rectify their losses.

Helen Hunt, as Kathy, incredibly presents her tough-love attitude towards her team and their determination to win the championship. She performs wonderfully in depicting Kathy's attempt to imbue the team with a purpose in the most hopeless of circumstances. Erin Moriarty, as Kelly, excellently portrays her growth from novice volleyball player to motivating leader. Danika Yarosh, as Caroline, exceptionally characterizes her teenage friendship with Kelly, including some recklessness at times. This allows her accident to have an emotional weight to it. William Hurt, as Ernie, is my favorite character due to his character arc through his grief of his daughter's death, as he slowly pushes people closest to him away. His friendship with Kathy allows for a humanizing and emotionally charged redemption from his self-pity.

Sean McNamara directs the movie with a scenic chronological representation of the events that happened in real life. My favorite scene is one where Kelly and Ernie talk about their regrets, resulting in Ernie asking Kelly to stop being so harsh on herself. I love how it portrays a relatable aspect of life. The flaw with the movie comes in the first act, when it feels like another cliché teen drama. Fortunately, it improves once the more humanizing aspects of the story come into play. However, there is an overuse of mainstream music during much of the movie, which results in a few of the most emotional scenes being completely nullified.

The message of this movie is to always remain as a source of hope for others. Despite the extreme pressure the team faces, Kelly always finds a way to assure her teammates. I give this film 3.5 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 6 to 18.

Reviewed by Arjun N., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic. For more reviews by youth, visit kidsfirst dot org

"The Miracle Season" (PG, 1:41) is a drama directed by Sean McNamara (who directed the 2015 true-story high school drama "Spare Parts") and written by David Aaron Cohen (2004's "Friday Night Lights" film) and Elissa Matsueda ("Spare Parts"). This movie is based on the true story of the tragic death of a high school volleyball team captain in Iowa in 2011 and the season in which the team struggled to overcome their grief, push forward without their best player and try to repeat as state champions.

Caroline "Line" Found (Danika Yarosh) is the effervescent captain of the West High School girls volleyball team and life-long best friend of Kelley Fliehler (Erin Moriarty, looking like a slightly younger Kate Mara). Caroline encourages Kelley when she doubts her volleyball skills and even manages to stay positive and try to boost the spirits of her mother (Jillian Fargey) who is dying of cancer. Caroline's father, Dr. Ernie Found (Oscar winner William Hurt), also seems to draw strength from his daughter as he deals with his wife's condition. All this makes for an especially devastating tragedy when "Line" dies so unexpectedly.

Caroline's teammates have a hard enough time dealing with losing such an important person in their young lives, let alone getting back on the volleyball court. The team's coach, Kathy Bresnahan (Oscar winner Helen Hunt) encourages Kelley to step up, become a team leader, and get her teammates back to practice. The coach feels that returning to the game they all love will help the girls heal and be the best way to honor Caroline's memory. The players slowly come to agree, but still find it very painful to play volleyball without Caroline - and just as difficult to win without her - but they keep on trying.

"The Miracle Season" is a touching and inspiring story. It may be predictable and have an "After School Special" vibe to it, but the excellent cast and strong performances raise this film to another level. It would've done better to wallow in its sad backstory a little less and feature the game of volleyball a little more, but the movie is still entertaining. It also serves up some valuable lessons, not just about overcoming adversity and never giving up (as important as all that is), but it also shows teenagers how fragile life can be and reminds us all to live every day to the fullest. "B"

Helen Hunt was excellent as usual in this film. Films that are based on true events will get me every time. Made my heart smile but my eyes cry. Loved the movie sound track. This movie reminded me of how Team Work is really just that, and that loyalty definitely, does still exist.

Beautiful story of loss, pain, acceptance and overcoming. A film that deserves to be watched by anyone in need of redemption.

Well...the movie is uneven. The action sequences were solid and the actors can definitely play. The leads were all fine, but they deserved a better script. The most emotional part of the movie was watching snippets of the real players and characters as the credits rolled.

The Miracle Season is the latest film starring Helen Hunt. Let me first say that most of the actors and actresses gave great performances. I wish this would have been a better shot film about volley ball. The writing was one of the downfalls of the film. The way that the volley ball games were shot left the audience feeling their eyes were hurting. The one actress that did not give a good performance was Danika Yarosh. I am actually going against most other film critics; I am giving these film 6 stars out of 10.

Living in the area, I was well aware when this tragedy occurred. My nephew was also an assistant coach on the team (but not portrayed) so I know from him how accurate the portrayal is, as well as knowing Kathy for decades. Bres is very matter-of-fact, and suffers no fools, but she's not quite as calloused as portrayed on screen. That being said, it's understandable to create drama to perpetuate the story with a sort of antagonist. The timeline is a little 'off', and the difference between semifinals & finals is only a day- but again, plot development, so it's necessary. Other than these very small details, I found the film to be very good, Helen Hunt absolutely nailed Bres' wardrobe to a T! I recall the ICW football team also honoring 'Line' during their season, and the entire state really did rally around these kids who suffered so mightily. It's a wonderful portrayal of events, and how drive and determination really can propel you to the top, and honor those left behind.

I loved SO much about this movie! Unfortunately some of the things left me flat. A lot of the volleyball scenes felt very staged and some scenes did not feel well acted. If you like true stories and/or sports movies--then I think you will enjoy the movie. This movie had the makings to be a 10--just fell a little short of the goal!

This movie's marketing team was the real miracle. The trailer, despite effectively spoiling the entire film, intrigued me and painted this as a potentially decent sports drama. If I ever make a hack job sports movie, I guess I'll have to run it through LD Entertainment.

We have a promising opening scene explaining how Caroline (Danika Yarosh), the girl who tragically dies in a moped accident, is an adventurous spirit who has a fun and uplifting effect on all those around her, and how she makes everything fun for everyone. Cool. The main problem is that Caroline, who is alive for I would guess about 20-30 minutes of screen time, is the only one of our main characters with a defined personality. Once she's gone and her mourning (a series of scenes which were somehow not handled well enough to elicit any sort of emotional response from me or my girlfriend) is complete, we're stuck with Kelly (Erin Moriarty) as our main protagonist. Moriarty's performance is the saddest thing in this film after Caroline's death (which is only sad because the girl actually died in real life, not because of any decent film making here.) There are several scenes where you can actually see Moriarty pull a face or summon up tears. Everything she says sounds stilted, her expressions forced. But maybe it's not all her fault.

Actors can't save bad writing (most of the time). This film has HORRIBLE writing. Not only is every line that comes out of our poorly acted heroines' mouths seemingly a cliche of some sort, the ones that aren't are laughably awful. My girlfriend isn't even very critical of movies most of the time, and even she had to burst out into silent laughter in the middle of the theater at how horrible the dialogue here is. Nobody talks like the characters in this movie. Not teenage girls, not anybody. Even the adults' dialogue is soppy garbage.Furthermore, it seems like the screenwriter forgot how to develop characters. There are multiple times in the movie where a character will take a major action or make a big decision, and I was left wondering "Huh? When did she make up her mind to do that? What has she been thinking? Where did this come from?" The movie paints Kelly and the rest of the West High Volleyball team as going through massive emotional trauma and struggle, yet the movie's efforts to give us a sense of that particular battle are woefully inadequate at best, nonexistent at worst. The only thing I would say to describe the change is Kelly between the start and the end of the movie is that she's sadder at the end. That's about it. I guess she also has a boyfriend with the personality of a cardboard cutout. So she's got that going for her.

The worst part is the pacing. The lack of displayed struggle and character development contribute to an overall tone that just feels... rushed. It's as if the writers were just trying to get through the beats of the story as quickly as they possibly could, with no regard for making it interesting or gripping. The one bright spot here is Coach Kathy Bresnahan (Helen Hunt), but her handful of serviceable scenes aren't enough to salvage this mess. The process of the team getting to state feels too quick and easy for it to be the arduous battle that it is portrayed as. Even once the team is playing at state, the random cut ins of pop songs in climactic scenes ruin the tension and drama of the scenes, feeling more like an effort to seem "cool" than a legitimate decision to make the film better. It's a shame too, because the volleyball sequences were some of the better shot scenes in a movie with otherwise incredibly bland cinematography.

All in all, this film is shallow in every aspect. Flat characters, horrible, uncreative cinematography, predictable beats, and rushed pacing. Even the orchestral score is bland and never fits the action. This movie is a disservice to the story it is trying to tell. It is rushed, slapped together, and possibly the worst movie I have seen in a couple years (and I saw God's Not Dead 3). Avoid at all costs.

Good movie based on true story of Caroline Found. Worth watching once if you are interested in a true life stories. Emotions vise ,, forget my eyes.. Their was no Tear in my Ear.. Should have put more effort in bringing a goose bumps.. Sports movies based on true stories.. which actually killed it..

The real story behind The Miracle Season was made for the silver screen, but as result this film becomes mediocre melodrama that brings nothing new to the conversation while, at the same time, offering a slow paced story full of cliches and rushed character development. Helen Hunt's (as Coach) divorce wasn't addressed beyond introductory scene. William Hurt (as dr. Ernie's) loss of spirituality is dealt short shrift. The romance between Erin Moriarty (as Kelley) and handsome new neighbor doesn't amount to much. It's actually distracting how misguided a "love" interest is here, since the focus should be on Line's grief-stricken inner circle. Worse, the sense of this community coming together, treating the volleyball games as a safe space to grieve and support each other is noticeably lacking. The matches are far from exciting and narrowly add up to this "sports" movie. Towards the end, the film does get repetitive. Sadly, The Miracle Season lacks the depth and while the team might be rooting for "Line", then, maybe you will not for this movie, no mater how real story sad is. Too much missed opportunities here. 4-/10

Kelley Fliehler (Erin Moriarty) and Caroline "Line" Found (Danika Yarosh) are lifelong best friends on their Iowa high school champion volleyball team. Line is the outgoing captain and a real leader. Kelley is struggling to be one of the starters. When new cutie Alex moves into the neighborhood, it's Line who introduces Kelley to him. Kathy Bresnahan (Helen Hunt) is their obsessive coach. Line has her own personal difficulties as she and her father (William Hurt) struggle with her mother's illness. When Line dies in a tragic accident, Kelley and the team have to bring themselves back from the darkness.

This is an inspirational film about a tragedy-turned-inspiration true story. It's very standard and very inspirational. As a movie, it's inspiring although it has a few flaws. The volleyball sequences lack drama. It's also a flaw to concentrate on Line instead of Kelley during the early scenes. Line may be the star of the story but Kelley is the emotional vehicle through which this story is told. When Bres finds Kelley in the library, she needs to give permission to the rest of the team. That is the most profound scene and that section represents the emotional climax of the movie. Everything after that is anti-climatic. Overall, this is a nice little film about a community dealing with a devastating loss but not much more.

7/10 - an enthralling high school sports drama that effectively translates an uplifting true story for the big screen

Cliche seen countless times. Not bad cinematography and performans but Just that much. Fan of sports films but this can barely make it...

I went to see this movie with my volleyball team. We cried a lot, and we got inspired a lot from all the playing and the speeches they made during the movie. It's not just about the sports though, watching a movie about people having to get over the death of someone they care about really hits you in the heart.

Despite some of the reviews posted, I have to say I found this film kind of dull.

All the characters were wooden and two dimensional, with the exception of Line herself. No depth, no real reason to care about any of them. Heck, I don't think I can remember more than three names, and one of them is Coach.

Story itself was adequately paced, but included some plot details that went nowhere and would have been better left out.

The only other review here as I write this wrote a good review. However, they reviewed this as a fictional movie. This is based on a true story and real life often does not have the makings of a well-written fiction. Normally I do not enjoy anything about sports if it is not local sports and does not involve someone I know, especially family members. If I wanted to watch sports I would turn on the news since that is over half of what the news material includes. I am not Mike Heck who thinks the answer to everything is "SPORTS". The coach reminds me of my boot camp T.I., tough as nails, hard on the troops, but in her heart very caring. Other than Helen Hunt, the outstanding actor in this film was Erin Moriarty. I researched her when I got home and it seems prior to this she has not done much work of significance. Too bad. I think with good material like this she could do well and go far. I was surprised to see Tiera Skovbye listed in the cast. I don't even remember seeing her in the movie. IE. she did not make much of an impression.

It would not be American Hollywood without a little sports motivated movie to ring in the Spring season. Tonight, yours truly starts his double decker review with a film that looks to be an inspiration to... high school volleyball players and their younger counterparts. Based on true events, tonight's review starts with a move that will hopefully bump, set, and spike your way to scoring high-points fun. Tired of all the sports puns? Yeah me too, so let's get started with yet another Robbie Movie Review on:

Title: The Miracle Season Director: Sean McNamara Writers: David Aaron Cohen, Elissa Matsueda (screenplay) Stars: Helen Hunt, Tiera Skovbye, Erin Moriarty

LIKES:

-The Pace: Movies like this strike a chord for their key demographics, but to the rest of the world it can fall on deaf ears. Fortunately for those who accompany tweens and teens, the movie isn't that long and the pace is decent to keep things on point. The editing was able to tighten what could have been a drawn-out film and as such gets you into the games/drama quick and then gets you right back out.

-The Inspiration: Miracle, Remember the Titans, even Million Dollar Arm have proven effective in motivating the audience members (primarily aspiring athletes) to go an accomplish their dreams and goals...well some of us anyway. The Miracle Season is yet another win on the board of motivation, utilizing a polished script, great visualization, and tailored acting to deliver the messages within. Hope, remembering, inner strength, and will power are just some of the qualities that audience members can soak up, and no matter how many times I see portrayals like this I get the feelings all over.

-The Musical Score: I've said it before and I'll say it again, but a good musical score can really drive the point home for movies. The Miracle Season rings strong in this category, bringing a powerful orchestra score to the game sequences to amplify the effects of an already high stress scene. While the Katy Perry songs are cute, cuddly, and well-fitting for empowerment, it's really the drum infused, high school spirited instrumental work that brings the full power of the movie.

DISLIKES:

Predictable: These movies seldom have big surprises, and this movie is no exception. The trailers have already given away the major events, and given it is an inspirational sports' movie, you can pretty much guess what will happen. No surprises, no major twists, not even suspenseful teasing...it's just one predictable montage.

Preachy: Movies are famous for crossing the lines into this territory, it just depends on how powerful the monologue and speech are to provide the message. Where Disney fueled movies have accomplished the dramatic delivery, this movie only managed to hit 50% in regards to the power of delivering the message. Instead, the simplistic lines, overdramatic camera angles, and obvious direction take the movie down a semi-cheesy preach fest that eventually feels like it belongs on a day-time soap opera. It delivers the message well enough but fails to deliver the magic that Disney has made famous.

Shotty Character Development: Again, a good effort, but does not quite reach maximum work the movie could have really used. The main characters of Kelly, Brez and Ernie (Moriarty, Hunt, and William Hurt respectively) get the most in terms of evolution, but past these characters the rest are very simplistic in regards to growing. Most of the team are simply extras to fill in the team and allow for some volleyball shots, while others have a few lines that show promise of deeper involvement, but then taper off. In a movie all about the players and the miracle they experienced, I was hoping for more depth in the team as a whole.

Editing Disproportionate: While the movie is fairly tight, I felt that the editing took out the wrong material of what I wanted to see. The Miracle Season focuses on the slower parts of the journey, taking more time to show practice, talking, and preparation than the actual games. When the big moments come up you might expect a few decent sequences of awesome volleyball action. However, the movie instead traded these potentially exciting bouts for more tear-jerking moments of sulking, girl talk, and some unneeded detours that added little for me in the movie. Sentimental? Yes. Hard hitting, sports prowess? Not even close.

Anti-Climactic: All of these dislikes sum up to one things, anti-climactic. The Miracle Season may be motivating, but it really lacks the exciting climax I was hoping to get in the movie. Even in the final games, the montages experience a drought of any dramatic tension, presented as just a bland spectacle of spandex wearing warriors doing some cool choreography. I do admit, there are some awe inspiring plays, but as a whole needed more to get the full effects.

The VERDICT:

The Miracle Season is certainly a public service announcement about the power of hard work, hope, and teamwork. It will serve as the fuel for future young females (especially athletes) to have a fantastic season, and push their limits. As a collective work though, it needed to add more pizazz overall and really add the magic to their moments to create the tension they wanted. In addition, more development of characters and team relationships could have taken this movie farther, but still it's got the gusto to appeal to its demographic. While an enjoyable movie, this film is best left to renting than the theater in my opinion, unless you need it for the big game to inspire the troops.

My scores: Drama/Sport: 6.5 Movie Overall: 5.0

It was a nice movie about volleyball,friendship and dedication.movie makes you feel sorry for the team, the Found family and the tragic lost of Caroline.based on true story and the actors actually makes you feel that way. Maybe my fault i dont know but in the final match West High schools libero served .according to volleyball rules liberos cannot serve.like i said it was maybe my fault. Except this it was a warm movie and totally watchable.