goreilly40 As a sports fan, this movie involving one of the darkest scandals in its history was something I had to see. Having watch it, I can say I enjoyed it but felt as though it could have been better and the story could have had more depth to it. Ben Foster is nothing short of a revelation in his portrayal of the controversial figure of Lance Armstrong and his many faces, the public charismatic sportsman and champion in the fight against cancer to the behind the scenes ruthless bully who threatened to destroy anyone or anything who got in his way. Likewise Chris O'Dowd as the journalist David Walsh who steadfast refused to give into intimidation and didn't allow himself to be fooled by the deception. Jesse Plemons performance as the conflicted Floyd Landis who played a key role in the investigation was also a positive for the movie, likewise Dustin Hoffman as Bob Hamman.One issue I had with the movie was the skimming over of a few key events. Not the cycling as such, but the USADA investigation which would expose the extent of Armstrong's cheating, Armstrong's legal attempts to block it, and the death threats issued to those involved were covered almost as an after thought near the end of the movie, this should've been given more time in the movie as it was a key element in the whole affair. One frustrating aspect of this movie was almost the complete omission of two key players in the story, Greg LeMond, the ex-TDF winner who was almost ruined by Armstrong because he dared to speak out against him, and Travis Tygart, the head of the USADA investigation which ultimately exposed the doping scandal, who as previously mentioned was subjected to a number of death threats, were barely mentioned. Considering the part they played in the whole saga, this was a big error on the part of the movie.This movie was enjoyable and fascinating, but I felt it was partially undermined by skimming over several key events and the omission of some key people.

peterrichboy I have been really surprised by the number of negative reviews of this movie. I've never really been a fan of cycling or the Tour De France, but I was always fascinated in how Lance Armstrong was able to cheat his way to 7 tour victories. And I think Stephen Frears has done a superb job of explaining the lengths Armstrong and his team mates went to,to beat the testers. Ben Foster is superb as Armstrong to the point I almost felt it was him, whilst Chris O Dowd is equally believable as the much maligned journalist who always new the truth. One of the best sports movies in recent memory 8/10

CANpatbuck3664 Lance Armstrong had a pretty drastic fall from grace. He was synonymous with athletes like Michael Jordan, Joe Montana and Serena Williams. Then the news came out about what he had done to win those 7 Tour De Frances and his legacy crumbled overnight. It definitely seemed like an appropriate subject to do a biopic about so I remembered The Program when I got the chance to catch it on DVD. I would have thought that this movie would have got some more attention, Ben Foster has always seemed like he was one key role from being an A list star. So this was the kind of project that might get him there. The Program opened in a limited release to a decidedly mixed reception and while I'm happy to talk about it, I think I'm going to echo what other reviewers have said. This is an absorbing story of betrayal and deception but the movie seemed very eager to tell it's own version of events instead of presenting a more unbiased look at Lance Armstrong's story.*Minor Spoilers Ahead* Lance Armstrong (Ben Foster) is just starting out and he's meeting up with journalist David Walsh (Chris O'Dowd) to discuss his team and his chances. They bond over a game of Foosball and David is impressed with Lance. Lance is behind the curve though and is looking for an edge. This leads him to Michele Ferrari (Guillaume Canet). Ferrari is reluctant to take him on, he doesn't have the optimal body type and his requirements are below Ferrari's standards. Lance claims he'll do what it takes and when Ferrari is about to take him on and Lance begins to succeed, he gets diagnosed with testicular cancer and his fight to get to the top takes on a whole new challenge. Ben Foster has always been underrated in the way that he's always providing solid supporting work in bigger projects. He throws a lot into his performance as Lance Armstrong. He's painted as a complete villain and Foster is up to the task, radiating arrogance and spitting venom at whoever gets in his way. I also really liked Chris O'Dowd as David Walsh, he's clearly the white knight in the movie. His character is single-minded and also arrogant but he doesn't overplay it and you get where he's coming from. I was impressed with the supporting cast: Jesse Plemons, Guillaume Canet, Denis Ménochet, Lee Pace and Dustin Hoffman all fit within the movie nicely and there wasn't a sub-par performance in the bunch.The Program does a good job of dramatizing the story of Lance Armstrong. I had a couple of issues with how they decided to tell it (more on that later) but I remained interested in the movie throughout. If you're familiar with Lance's story even a little bit, you might know it didn't come to a clean end and the fallout was pretty severe. The movie borders on being a thriller with him hiding drugs and circumventing the regulatory bodies. You probably know how this story ends but that didn't bother me, the ending was a little anti-climactic but the movie achieved what it wanted to achieve.The Program just had one big flaw for me. This movie picks sides almost immediately and does almost everything it can to make you hate Armstrong. I understand that there is inherent bias in everything and it's not the movie's job to present this subject like a documentary. It's based on true events, as opposed to reporting the facts. But The Program doesn't even approach being objective. I'm also saying this while largely being on The Program's side. Reports about Lance Armstrong describe his behaviour as bordering on psychotic and completely obsessive and his achievements are now tainted because of his cheating. But the guy did raise millions of dollars for cancer research and he revitalized cycling. It's okay to not be completely down the middle but you have to compensate by making an excellent film (e.g. Snowden) and for me this movie didn't hit those heights.I would re-iterate that The Program did present an interesting story and made it dramatic enough to be entertaining. It just didn't reach high enough to hit iconic biopic status and it was a little embarrassing to what lengths they drove this movie trying to sway viewer opinion. I think they would have been better served diving deeper into Lance's motivations and showing the complete picture around his life. With that said, this was still worth a watch to see Ben Foster giving it his all and learning some of the finer points around Armstrong's story.

Reno Rangan I think it came at the right time. The recent report says there are lots of athletes around the world from the different sports failed their doping tests. But this story sets around the 15 years ago, which was based on the real sportsperson's life story. Lance Armstrong, a cyclist from the Texas and his record breaking back to back wins at the 'The Tour de France'. The film narrates a tale that what he chose to do with the second chance of his life.A very interesting biopic, but kind of confusing over what kind of revelation the film is. I mean whether inspiring to fight back the disease, especially what he contributed to the poor and orphan cancer patients, or cheating the game to become a fame. So what I think is it has the both positives and negatives. I liked the balanced screenplay, that is very smart for a controversial person like this.It's like a modern 'Robinhood' tale. But here, he's not stealing from the rich, instead he cheats the game. Those tricks were unbelievable. That's not the right thing to do, but that's what he's good at. Ben Foster was amazing, I'd seen him doing lots of supporting roles, but for this he's the posterboy. This film is a great example that the lies cannot go on forever, sooner or later the justice will be done. People hate him and so this film. There are others who like him as well, but I'm neutral and people like me has to go through a hard time to rate it.6½/10