Another cookie cutter formula movie from Hollywood

Rating: 1/10 (23 December 2006)

Let me start off my review by saying that I am in no way trying to detract from the hardships that the school or the town had to face when confronted with such a hard hitting tragedy.
That being said, this is nothing more than an over-hyped paint-by-numbers formulaic sports movie that we have seen over, and over again. In just the last couple of months the same story has been redone be it the Rock in Gridiron Gang or Mark Whalberg in Invincible, the story of a football team that has to overcome some obstacle to win the "big game". Reaching back a few more years we can get even more examples of this, movies such as Remember the Titans,the remake of the Longest Yard, Friday Night Lights etc, etc There is not a shred of originality in this movie. You have seen it before. Their is little to no humor throughout the entire film, and most of the scenes are interchangeable and are just of people crying or giving some long speech riddled with clichés about how they have to over come. The acting is way over the top, downright laughable in some scenes, and the director is a no talent hack. All the shots of foot ball you have seen in any other movie about the sport before, any scene we are supposed to find funny reminds us how funny it is by playing carnival music, with any dramatic scene playing a quiet piano number. Oh, and there is even a montage that is SOOOOOO bad it is almost painful to watch.
I'm sure this movie will do well at the box office, and people will talk about what a great movie it was, but don't buy into the hype. If you want to see a good movie with the family watch something that is genuine, and not the forced sentimentality that Hollywood spoon feeds people with the same sports movie(Coach Carter, Glory Road, etc) over and over again.