Strathairn brings a sense of integrity that makes even the film's most clichéd moments forgivable.
Comment
12/21/06
We Are Marshall (2006)
48
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:124
Fresh:60
Rotten:64
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Matthew McConaughey almost runs We Are Marshall to the end zone, but can't stop it from taking the easy, feel-good route in memorializing this historic event in American sports.
Runtime: 2 hrs 11 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: In November 1970, a plane carrying almost the entire Marshall University football team, its staff and fans crashed, killing 75 people in all and devastating the small town of Huntington, West... [More]
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, David Strathairn, Matthew Fox, Huntley Ritter
Director: McG
Reviews for We Are Marshall
As inspirational football movies go, this well-intentioned but disappointing effort sputters and stalls, like putting coal in a tattered Christmas stocking.
12/21/06
Winds up feeling like a big story told only in a small way.
12/21/06
This is not a great football movie. It is, however, a great movie about how to get on with life after a disastrous event.
12/21/06
...begins with a politely observed time of mourning and then gets on to the business of triumph, even if the movie has to invent it.
12/21/06
More than a simple football movie, the theme is not about winning or losing, but finding the strength to move on in spite of tragedy.
12/21/06
An intuitive, raw nerve type of actor, McConaughey lets it fly as Lengyel, and his enthusiasm is something to behold.
12/20/06
The movie certainly has its heart in the right place, but that alone just isn't enough.
12/20/06
The results feel like a high-minded TV film (there are even places in its structure for the eventual insertion of commercials).
12/20/06
An authentic and specific story of grit and grace in the face of tragedy has been Hollywoodized--or more properly, bastardized. A shame, indeed.
12/20/06
[O]f course real people's real pain can be turned, yet again, into trite, glossy cinematic junk food. How could we possibly doubt this?
12/20/06
I've never been able to accept Matthew McConaughey in a romantic role, but he's very impressive as the dedicated coach in 'We Are Marshall.'
12/20/06
We Are Marshall is precisely what one expects from a true sports story: it's uplifting and inspiring.
12/19/06
Even by the low standards of the young-jocks-as-good-clean-soldiers movie, there's little at stake here, unless you count the kids' hunger to win one for the Gipper.
12/19/06
In a decidedly schmaltzy film, McConaughey's performance of a gutsy idiot is arguably off-the-scale bad, but, as he chews up the scenery, his off-putting work begins to become somewhat charming.
12/19/06
Much like the 1971 Marshall team, this picture is long on heart and short on talent.
12/19/06
A rich and entertaining experience that does a good job avoiding the cliches that often hinder similar football-tinged dramas.
12/19/06
Doesn't score any touchdowns in the emotion department.
12/18/06
Full of good intentions, We Are Marshall has a game plan that's hard to fault, but as with any playbook, a scheme is only as good as how well it's executed.
12/18/06
Top CriticWe Are Marshall rates as one of the best sports movies ever made. This is a masterful triumph from the director McG that will make your heart soar in joy at the end.
12/18/06
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