In its final lap The Winning Season collapses into a sentimental farce that even Mr. Rockwell, now playing the clown, cannot redeem from cringe-inducing hokum.
– Stephen Holden,
New York Times,
3 Sep 2010
fresh:
Rockwell does a typically fine job -- he's funny, touching and appalling -- as an alcoholic mess of a former high school basketball coach who's been reduced to washing dishes in a restaurant.
– Lou Lumenick,
New York Post,
3 Sep 2010
fresh:
The story deepens through the clownish, heartbreaking exertions of Rockwell's gruff misfit, still working things out at the final buzzer.
– Sheri Linden,
Los Angeles Times,
2 Sep 2010
rotten:
A predictable and cliched dramady.
– Kirk Honeycutt,
Hollywood Reporter,
2 Sep 2010
rotten:
Forget AA; according to the movies, there's no better cure for alcoholism or depression than good ol' precollegiate athletic coaching.