pawsme62
I had wanted to see this movie for a while, as I am a really big Aidan Quinn fan, so I was thrilled when I found a copy today! But my hopes were too high for the level of this movie. The story was solid, the acting was decent, but the script was obviously an afterthought to the football footage. The writers never really introduced the viewers to the Abbatte family (what was wrong with the daughter?), gave very little notice to the interactions and reactions of the family as a whole regarding their loss, and basically didn't give the actors much with which to present their characters or to move the story line. With such a good story and a high-caliber cast, this movie could have been a great one, but instead it pretty much just laid down with a whimper. Next time, guys, "FOCUS" on the story, not clips of football plays and cheerleaders. Really a sad treatment of a promising premise.
michael-doesken
I could write a myriad of things that others have written about this movie. But to be honest, it would just waste your time. There are definitely a lot of Christian spiritual moments in this movie. What disappoints me, is with a 6mil budget, I was expecting some actual game recreation using the actors. Not a whole bunch of extremely low-resolution video clips of actual games from that year cut in between scenes with the actual actors. It's pretty put-offing. Just my two cents. The movie itself is done really well, and the acting is also performed at a top level (IMO), however, the use of these actual gameday clips seems forced and out of play from the rest of the movie, and it seems to remove me to the point I just can't get into it.
intelearts
I love inspirational sport movies - who doesn't? But they have to be inspirational, meaning something that lifts because it moves us genuinely. I found the 5th Qtr to be probably the most paint by numbers film in this genre I've ever seen.I appreciate the story, I get why it should have moved me, and in places it does - but it is so "now feel this" and "now you should feel sad, now feel glad" that I am no longer a viewer, I become simply a mannequin devoid of my own choices. Fox Faith made this, and it should therefore have excellent production values and some real thinking behind it. But it sorely lacks power, even in those scenes where it should.It is clichéd, from a dull script, to a musak score that assaults the senses, to frankly, and amazingly, dull football scenes. It has great values, real heart, but slushes it all away, through telling us how to feel all the time.A sad waste of a good idea -honestly, wanted to love this, but could barely watch it in places. Inspirational? Not for this reviewer, I'm afraid.
starcj70
This is no Blind Side. I had higher hopes for this movie. It seems like a lot of the acting was forced. For the minor characters it felt like they were reading cue cards and talking woodenly. There were lots of missed opportunities to really make this a great movie. The accident was caused by reckless driving where the youngest son in the family is declared brain dead. The angst of a young child lost so soon and the journey of acceptance would have had the makings of this movie. An opportunity was missed in dealing with the culpability of the person who was responsible for the accident. I thought Merriman was a good actor in this part. I thought and so did my daughter that Aidan Quinn overdid the emotion in several scenes. Andie McDowell was SO underused. The dynamic between the husband and wife in dealing with their son's tragedy was never explored. Missed opportunities in this movie give it this low rating.
AD
