Sensitive study of a headstrong high school football star who dreams of getting out of his small Western Pennsylvania steel town with a football scholarship. His equally ambitious coach aims at a college position, resulting in a clash which could crush the player's dreams.
For all its air of realism and grit, the film has a fairy-tale quality.
– Janet Maslin,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
fresh:
The movie gets into the dynamics of the high-school student body and into the tender, complicated relationship between the Cruise character and his girlfriend (Lea Thompson).
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
23 Oct 2004
rotten:
Passable teen/sports movie.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
rotten:
his naive little movie hopes to prove itself the Flashdance of football.