67
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Screen DailySarah WardScreen DailySarah WardAping sporting conventions, The Workers Cup relates a riveting underdog tale about a quest for glory, while simultaneously probing the reality faced by the poorest people in the world’s wealthiest country.
- 83The Film StageJohn FinkThe Film StageJohn FinkThe Workers Cup is a bittersweet portrait of the labor that built the glimmering towers, stadiums, and luxury malls: spaces these men are not permitted to be seen in public areas of.
- 80The GuardianThe GuardianThough there are moments of real joy and liberation during the games, everything outside of the matches is cloaked in a mood of lost dreams and stunted futures.
- 75The PlaylistAndrew CrumpThe PlaylistAndrew CrumpMore than a documentary, the film is an exposé on the world of global capitalism’s callousness that handily demonstrates their inhumanity.
- 75RogerEbert.comNick AllenRogerEbert.comNick AllenA documentary with a defeated spirit, but with fleeting glimmers about why the oppressed keep playing.
- 70VarietyGeoff BerkshireVarietyGeoff BerkshireWhat emerges is a nuanced, if somewhat undernourished, portrait of the poorest inhabitants of the richest country in the world.
- 70The New York TimesKen JaworowskiThe New York TimesKen JaworowskiWhile it would have been easy for Mr. Sobel to unleash an angrier screed against the inequalities shown, some well-placed images tell us all we need to know about the haves and have-nots here.
- 70Village VoiceBilge EbiriVillage VoiceBilge EbiriSobel lets these conflicting feelings hang in the air, offering no pat conclusions, or convenient corporate bogeymen. By refusing to resolve or reconcile these contradictions, he ensures that we’ll keep thinking about them.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijThe Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijSobel’s inexperience with the feature-length format and the requirements of specific genres shows, with Workers Cup constantly struggling to reconcile the horrible fate of what are essentially modern-day slaves with the aspirational side and dreams of victory and beyond that are the end game of any underdog sports story.
- 50Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleLos Angeles TimesRobert AbeleNot an exposé, and hardly a case of sports-as-uplift, The Workers Cup feels like a toe dip when the topic calls for at least a deep wade.