[Costner] could have sailed through this film but he gives his role an ingrained orneriness and melancholy that lifts the entire enterprise.
– Peter Rainer,
Christian Science Monitor,
20 Feb 2015
fresh:
You fall for the kids playing the runners because Caro lets their souls come through in the bus rides and the race sequences and the shameless scenes of cabbage picking.
– Wesley Morris,
Grantland,
20 Feb 2015
fresh:
Here's a movie that should be disposable at best, and racially condescending at worst, and yet it sticks with you. It comes by its emotions honestly and wins you over.
– Bilge Ebiri,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
21 Feb 2015
rotten:
The latest in a long line of condescendingly inspirational sports movies about a catalog Caucasian who learns that people of other races are also capable of being decent.
– David Ehrlich,
Time Out,
23 Feb 2015
fresh:
Yes, "McFarland USA" has the obligatory coda where we found out how everything played out for the coach and the key members of that 1987 team. You should stick around for that.