‘When the Game Stands Tall’ a Sermonizing Snooze

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Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – “When The Game Stands Tall” has more sermons than a month of Sundays. Its heart is in the right place, but it’s more likely to put its audience to sleep than bring it to its feet. By now the tropes of the inspirational sports drama have become as familiar as the West Coast Offense, but this film can’t effectively figure out how to execute them.

The drama itself has the bones of a good story. A high school football team amasses the longest winning streak in sports history, and then has its true character tested when that streak is broken. “Passion Of The Christ” star Jim Caviezel is playing a slightly worldlier messiah here – he plays football coach Bob Ladouceur with a calm demeanor that borders on comatose. Caviezel’s coach doesn’t yell or scream at his players, but he stalks the field relentlessly, and peppers his locker-room pep talks with bible verses and prayers. They could double as sermons, and it comes as no surprise when he eventually does deliver a full on message right from a pulpit.

Jim Caviezel is Coach Bob in ‘When the Game Stands Tall’
Photo credit: TriStar Pictures

Caviezel’s messages essentially boil down to variations on the same theme. He doesn’t want to turn his players into supermen, he only wants them to value the brotherhood of their team. His players are asked to make a perfect effort and achieve their full potential. But there’s a problem – the movie is so concerned with getting its message across it forgets to tell a story. It’s hard to fault a movie that sends a good positive message, but it is presented in such a stilted dry way I don’t think anyone is likely to be listening.

The scenes of actual football have a perfunctory, airless TV movie nature to them. The outcome is never in doubt, so there’s no drama. They’re not terribly well staged either, so there’s nothing very interesting to look at in between the big speeches. The players themselves are a mostly bland bunch who hang out at the soda fountain and drink root beers, while talking about their purity pledges with their impossibly hot girlfriends.

The film throws in a heart attack, a couple of untimely deaths, overbearing parents, emotionally tortured teens and cancer in its efforts to tug at the heartstrings, but I was left unmoved. Even when the team eventually does lose, it hardly packs an emotional wallop. Caviezel’s coach stays stoic through it all.

Coach Terry (Michael Chiklis) and Coach Bob in ‘When the Game Stands Tall’
Photo credit: TriStar Pictures

It’s up to assistant coach Terry Eidson (Michael Chiklis) to try to pick up the slack. He looks and acts like he’s acting for both of them, waving his hands and running about. Even though he never berates a player, he only urges them to accomplish their capability. The only time the movie’s message of brotherhood actually makes an impression is when the team visits a veterans hospital in a character building exercise. Seeing the value of teamwork and camaraderie espoused by wounded warriors lends a shred of emotional weight that no amount of stoic platitudes can muster.

This movie is part of Sony Pictures’ new push towards faith based productions, and it suffers from the same problems that have haunted them for decades. This has much better production values than the moral dramas that used to be shown at Christian summer camps and youth groups, but narratively speaking it still fumbles the ball.

By SPIKE WALTERS Contributor HollywoodChicago.com spike@hollywoodchicago.com