Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

hall895 The story of the 1950 United States World Cup soccer team's stunning upset victory over England is one which has been begging to be told for years. One of the great sports underdog stories of all time and hardly anyone knows a thing about it. Many younger American soccer fans don't even know it happened. Finally, this movie has come along to shed some well-deserved light on those players who toiled mostly in anonymity and whose achievements seemed lost in the dustbin of history. It is wonderful that this movie was made. You just wish the movie had been made better. The Game of Their Lives or The Miracle Match or whatever they're calling it these days never quite hits the heights. It tells a story which needed to be told. It just doesn't tell it in an entertaining enough way.This movie is cut from the tried and true sports underdog movie mold (Hoosiers, Rocky, Rudy and so on) but it never has the same sense of energy which drove those films forward. While those films had a certain zest to them as they built towards a thrilling conclusion this film just kind of slogs along. It's not nearly as engrossing as it could have, and given the great story they had to work with, probably should have been. The fact that certain details of history have been twisted and changed to try to make things seem more dramatic than they actually were doesn't help either. A misguided attempt to create a "villain" on the English team also falls flat. It seems the filmmakers were afraid to allow this story to speak for itself and were determined to spice it up with some artificial drama. The fake drama doesn't work and we're not left with enough real drama either.This is not to say that The Game of Their Lives (or The Miracle Match or whatever) is a bad movie. It's OK. You just get the sense that this story deserved a movie which is better than just OK. The acting is fine with Gerard Butler and Wes Bentley the key figures in a cast which otherwise is made up of mostly unknowns with the exception of, oh sweet irony, Englishman Patrick Stewart as the American soccer reporter who serves as the film's narrator while relishing the memory of the English defeat. The visuals are very good and the soccer scenes quite well done. But what's lacking is drama. The film never really grabs you, from the "getting to know you" phase as we meet the players all the way through the "thrilling" climax which comes off as rather ordinary. And what the U.S. team achieved in Brazil in 1950 was anything but ordinary. Unfortunately the full impact of what those men accomplished and who those men really were doesn't come across in this film. And that's a shame.

gradyharp THE MIRACLE MATCH (released rather unsuccessfully in the theaters as THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES) is yet another one of those feel good movies that dwells on the concept that the problems of humanity can be resolved on the playing field. And that is not a bad metaphor: wouldn't it be great if current world problems could be worked out under the guidelines of teamwork? The film is a heartwarming look at the true story of a 1950's event when a US Soccer team was created in St. Louis, Missouri, the core of the team being from Italian families in the La Montagna area of St. Louis and augmented from teams across the country, traveled to Brazil and defeated the English team in the World Cup Soccer event - a fact that startled the sports world. The St. Louis boys include Gerard Butler (yes, the film was made in 2005 and yet Butler looks younger and speaks without his brogue), Jay Rodan, Costas Mandylor, Louis Mandylor, Zachery Ty Bryan, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Richard Jenik and Nelson Vargas. They all do well, giving us the feeling that they are fully attuned to the story. The other actors (including a bit part by Patrick Stewart) handle their rather weakly written parts adequately.The problem with the film, though probably quite accurate in reporting a true incident (the real and surviving original players form the team are included in the rather corny ending), is that we really don't get to know the personalities of the team players well enough to create a successful drama. The majority of the film is shot during soccer games and that becomes monotonous to those of us who are not soccer devotees. But given that problem, the film has a sweetness about it and an honesty that while bordering on saccharine does indeed emphasize the team spirit needed to conquer all odds. And in the end it is worth watching to view Gerard Butler in yet another type of character: the actor is well on the rise! Grady Harp

hobbes3 This is a likable depiction of a little known event in American sports history; the defeat of soccer superpower England at the hands of an unknown, underfunded U.S. team (most of whom are sons of Italian immigrants) during the World Cup in Brazil in 1950. The film defines the characters, showing their Italian roots as well as their pride at being Americans without crossing the line into stereo-type. Their are a couple of moments that appear as if they're heading in that direction but, then the film deftly veers around it. The scenes on the pitch are exciting and compelling, particularly the ultimate match with the English. Even though the outcome is a matter of record, I was still captivated. Part of the reason for this might be all those shots of walking pheromone Gerard Butler as goalie Frank Borghi. (Disclaimer:Mr. Butler was the real reason I picked up this little film.) *Spoiler*I'm glad they included the real players that were still alive at the time of filming in the final scene. I'll watch this again. I rented it last night, bought it this morning.

downward When I first heard about this movie, I hoped it was a Hollywood version of the 2002 British documentary The Game of Their Lives, which was about a North Korean team's surprise bid for the 1966 World Cup. Even when I found out the 2005 film had nothing to do with the earlier documentary, I gave it a chance. It is definitely for people who like movies like Hoosiers and Boaz Yakin's Remember the Titans, and want to see that kind of movie repackaged over and over and over again. The writer (Angelo Pizzo) and director (David Anspaugh) simply pulled out all the clichés of the underdog sports movie, set it on a soccer field, and then shot it. My gosh, the inspirational locker-room talk before they go attempt to topple the giants was like something you'd hear in a high school locker room (coaches quoting from bad films). Let's see... Anspaugh and Pizzo have applied their formula to basketball and football and now soccer. Set your watches... we should have a stand-up-and-cheer baseball movie from them in about... two years. CAN'T WAIT!!!