The Game of Their Lives

A true underdog story.

Wonderful true story about a soccer team from the US facing insurmountable odds on the world stage.

The story is great, though the script struggles to capture it, good thing the acting helped the writers out.

I preface this review with a fact: I love soccer. I play it, I watch it, I read about it. But here's an unfortunate fact also; I have never seen a decent movie about the game I adore. Starting with the dreadful "Victory" , a film mangled by Sly Stallone, there has been nothing but a string of poor cinema typified by bad directing, shoddy screenwriting, abysmal scene shooting and indifferent acting. Alas, "The Game of Their LIves" is just another sad addition to that Hall of Shame. Arguably one of the greatest upsets in the history of any sport (up there with the ballyhooed "Miracle on Ice"), this epic event in the 1950 World Cup deserves better than this. The story was weak, the direction plodding, the dialogue an homage to sports cliches and even the soccer scenes looked unnatural and staged. Even soccer fans need to stay away from this dog.

It's okay but the real question is...why the fuck did they make a movie about this one game? Why didn't they even hint at the US's 3-1 defeat against Spain a few days before, and why is their mediocre performance in 1950 such a big deal, when the US squad got to the SEMI-FINALS in 1930!! Now that's a story!

como documento historico no mas...

I don't like sports, and most sports movies bore me. But this movie was just awesome! i loved it!

My problem with this movie is that the main actors are around 15 or 20 years older than the characters they are supposed to be playing. So they look like midlife people but they are dealing with issues as if they were fresh out of high school. I think they would have been better off casting it w/ college-aged soccer players. I am usually a big fan of movies like this one, but for some reason this movie didn't quite do it for me. It was ok. Extra 1/2 star for Gerard Butler and Gavin Rossdale...I do like them.

:) Netflix: August 19, 2007 [url="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/miracle_match/gallery.php"][img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/coverv/05/447405.jpg[/img][/url] [b]My Review:[/b] This one might only be for die-hard soccer fans. It takes place in 1950, so that might also put off some viewers. My husband and I liked it, but we were THE soccer family when our three boys were all playing tournament soccer. We became fans back then, and as an old man in the movie said, "It's the only game in the world where you don't have to be tall or strong, you don't need a special field, and you don't need any equipment except a ball." The other thing we liked about this movie was that it emphasized the pride immigrant families in the 1950's felt about being Americans. In their eyes in those days, to be an American was the most important thing on earth. We don't hear that so much anymore and it was nice! As a plus, Gerard Butler, the guy from "Phantom of the Opera", played the goalie. [b]SYNOPSIS:[/b] In 1950, the United States World Soccer Team faced the esteemed team from England, known then as one of the best the sport had ever seen, in a heated race for the title in Brazil. The US team was made up of the best players from an Italian enclave in St. Louis and a group of ivy league players in the East. Each group had their own style of play; one more formal and one less formal. Somehow the Americans had to resolve this issue as well as to strive to beat the best team in the world.

This little movie is about the 1950 US Men's world cup soccer champs, 4 of whom were from my nieghborhood. The movie was shot around my neighborhood. Kids loved picking out familiar sites in the movie.