Cebalord Very best movie i ever watch

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

g-white723 The is a good film about probably the biggest upset in football history - certainly it is viewed that way in the UK. In 1950 England's football team was regarded as the number one team in the world. They had never competed in the World Cup because they viewed it as beneath them in some way (as did the other British teams). England had never been defeated by foreign (non British) opposition on home soil, so they were a tad arrogant.This is an interesting film about football history. The game very much in its infancy in America, starts in St. Louis where the manager scouts a set of amateur players to play for the national team. Gerard Butler plays the goal keeper Frank Borghi, which in a bad team, turns out to be the hero, and Wes Bentley plays team captain Walter Bahr. Interestingly the team captain had a much bigger role than they have today. He was involved in team selection and tactics. The Americans realise early on they are likely to get a hiding from the more experienced professional teams, but that is where the emotion of the film comes in as the team bond around the hero goal keeper and team captain. Probably because this is a really embarrassing moment in England's football history, and America's ambivalence towards the game, explains why it has taken 60 odd years for this story to come to the big screen. The period details, and sports action looked authentic and the big finale is a highlights coverage of the famous game. The acting is fine all round. As a football fan this is an entertaining and informative film. I've only ever seen black and photographs of the this game so it great to see a film which fills in the full story. 8/10.

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

onisim-ferche I had troubles watching this movie from the beginning to the end. For anyone that knows a thing or two about soccer, it's so mindbogglingly idiotic that there is no way in hell to appreciate it. They call free kicks penalties, illegal tackles are called fair and the other way around, the sports part of the movie is beyond horrible. I doubt the makers of the movie watched more than say... two soccer games in all their lives. And even if they did, they definitely didn't understand it. Which, for a soccer movie, is a fatal flaw.But even ignoring the sports part, the movie is still very bad. Even making a movie about a rather unimportant game (they didn't win anything, didn't reach any final... they just won a game against the odds, happens all the time). Trying to display that as a heroic deed is rather hilarious... Any soccer fan knows that a very bad team can sometimes cause problems to a strong team, due to excessive enthusiasm (usually translated into aggressiveness) and the tendency to destroy the play.Also, the movie is one big cliché, a sports team nobody knew about rising above its status to defeat the main contenders for the title. And there were some movies based on the same structure, which I happened to enjoy. But everything about this specific movie is so irrational and / or meaningless that there's simply no way someone with a bit of movie and sports culture could enjoy it.A total failure, both from a cinematic point of view, and a sportive one.Gave it 2, because i've seen worse movies. Not many though.

SandyLiz Very worthwhile movie. Almost excellent.The cinematography might have been a little rough around the edges, mostly the accents of the actors got into the way as I could hear them straining to keep it American and NY and St. Louis. Some like Rhys-Davis had a strong accent and I wondered why.And...some of it was sentimental--especially the type of music they played in the background. But it was a sentimental story. It was based on a true story and those are harder to make into movies.Maybe the viewers didn't actually see the melding of the various players into a team but that was because it was internal--in their hearts and minds. It definitely was there in full blossom when they were down to the wire. Very well done.I liked the way the team members received their uniforms. It was something we need to do in this manner much more often. Shhh, don't miss this part.However, the acting was good. The actual game they played was spectacular!!! I was excited and anxious and rooting for our home team. I have never been drawn into a movie game like that before.It is well worth seeing. In fact, if you are a Gerard Butler fan like I am, you will probably buy it. I would like to see a movie about how they made this movie!!! (How many takes did it take for the goalie to do what he did, for instance?) Sandy Shire