When the Game Stands Tall: Movie Review

Director Thomas Carter helmed a solid high school sports drama with 2005’s “Coach Carter” and I had hopes that he would be able to do it again with “When the Game Stands Tall”. Those hopes were quickly dashed once the characters began to actually speak. If there was an award for the cheesiest dialogue in a motion picture, “When the Game Stands Tall” would beat out “The Expendables 3”. Yes, it’s that bad. I couldn’t keep a straight face through many of the “dramatic” exchanges between characters.

You may not pick up on it through the trailers, but “When the Game Stands Tall” happens to be a religious high school football film, dealing with faith. I don’t have a problem with that, but I feel those who plan to go see it should know going in. Based on the true story of about the De La Salle High School football team that had a 151-game winning streak before it ended shortly after their coach, Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel) suffers from a stroke.

Even though it is based on a true story, the film still feels like one-bad-sports-movie cliché after another. Caviezel is set at one note through the whole film, I don’t think I caught his facial expression change once until the very end. Speaking of the very end, it felt like “When the Game Stands Tall” had two different endings. There is one moment after a game that I thought the torture of sitting through this thing was at an end, but no, it went on for another 15-20 minutes. Michael Chiklis who plays assistant coach Terry Eidson and Clancy Brown who plays one of the parents are the only two actors in this garbage to deliver any kind decent performance and even they are saddled with some laughable lines.

There are so many great sports dramas out there and this isn’t one of them. Actually, I would call “As the Game Stands Tall” one of the worst high school football movies ever made, and yes, I did see “Varsity Blues”.

By: Marc Ferman