There is nothing remotely compelling about high school football. If you'tr playing it? I hope you have fun, there is some fun to be had there, definitely.

But the spectators that set their week around it who do not have children playing in the game are fucking losers of the highest degree. I can't believe how many movies they've made about it. Collectively, they are a waste of time.

Echh. What a terribly [i]joyless[/i] movie. I mean, it's heavy-handed enough where as soon as the characters are shown on the screen, you can pick them out -- "There's the cocky one who'll get injured and be taught an important life lesson!" "There's the one with the abusive, alcoholic father!" "There's the..."

Which, fine. Clockwork "sports movie about redemption", whatever. But everything's just so goddamn [i]joyless[/i]. One character gets made fun of earlier because he never smiles. The same could be said about anybody in the audience. Even the "big game" at the end is a utterly happiness-free affair, and by the time the credits roll, you want to open a window, or go outside under the sun, or go out on the balcony and jump to your death.

Good acting, though. Pretty well done. Oh, except it uses that "Battlestar Galactica" method of camerawork. When did that start? You see that [i]everywhere[/i] now, that "Handheld Hell" technique. Where did that [i]come[/i] from?

Anyway, everyone said this was the best sports movie of all time, which is absurd (the best sports movie of all time is Over the Top). Ain't gonna get more than **1/2 out of me, though.