6.5/10

Rating: 6/10 (2 September 2015)

The low average, ultra-generic-characters-filled, ridiculously clichéd sports drama this movie could have easily ended up being, is saved by a couple of amazing and committed performances, a couple of smart storytelling turns and another couple of very well placed directorial choices.
Yet, I emphasize, there is no two ways around what I said in the opening. This movie is filled with generic characters whose drama has been seen and told on screen so many times it is hard to even believe someone is still interested in telling these stories. The opening fifteen minutes of the film were an agony of mediocrity and clichés I was really about to give up. There is nothing surprising about these people, nothing unpredictable, as soon as they appear on screen you understand everything about them and have no space left for shock and surprise.
Despite everything above, Gylenhall, one of my personal heroes ever since Donnie Darko, is so committed and so absorbed into the moment you forget everything around him is as fake as it would sound and gives you the exact ingredient needed for you to be following him. Even though the movie built around him isn't believable he totally gives gravity to it and truly, single handily makes turn this film from a cringe worthy failure to a relatively satisfying experience. It is so good to see an actor pay off so much on screen. His daughter in the movie definitely helps and she too does deliver the type of commitment needed for the audience to believe in her emotions and her relation with her father. These emotions you get from almost all the main cast are definitely made possible by Fuqua's direction in the vital emotional beats. He knows exactly how to make us get the feels and I must admit whole heartedly I got them.
On the other hand however, for the rest of the film both Fuqua's and the screenplay's decisions make it trip too many times. On one side Fuqua doesn't hold back, he blows up everything to eleven and does not even once give space to subtlety. He shoves the emotions down are throats. As I said before, thanks to the performances especially, you do get the feels and feel the gut-wrench the movie thinks you should, but it also feels utterly manipulative. Furthermore, the screenplay simply could not have had more clichés condensed into 124 minutes.
This is no break from the usual, generic sports movie, but thanks to some really passionate work by the filmmakers it doesn't end up being nothing close to a waste of time.