Byrd Productions - The Heart of the Game Reviews

The Heart of the Game – Reviews

“An Oscar level piece of work. Features a cast of real life personalities far more intriguing and complex than the majority of fiction films we see every year.” – Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
“I think Academy Awards for sure. This is a great film. It is a great experience and a great documentary. Resler is a great coach.” – Roger Ebert, Ebert & Roeper
“3 1/2 stars. I love this movie. You will too. It tells a compelling, complicated story, introduces vibrant, real-life characters and touches on issues of race and class. Resler, his players and Game are all winners.” (Critic's Choice) – Leah Rozen, People
“3 1/2 stars. A winner. (The) Heart of the Game scores slam-dunk straight to the heart. It's exhilarating, dynamic and upbeat. It captures an authentic feel-good spirit and inspirational message. Basketball lovers will enjoy the pulseracing, game-making shots, but you don't have to be a hoops fan to get into the story. It emerges as a captivating and classic sports film. It is also a compelling story about fairness and doing the right thing. The film should be required viewing for all teachers, coaches and school-age kids.” – Claudia Puig, USA Today
“It delivers a jolt of excitement. It shows the game at its purest.” – Sara Brady, Premiere
“A revelation. It's Hoop Dreams for girls. A gripping film.” – Karen Durbin, Elle
“A furious full-court press, its subjects aflame with the kind of passion only youth can furnish.” – Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly
“Deft and powerful.” – L. Jon Wertheim, Sports Illustrated
“Sheer edge-of-your-seat entertainment.” – David Ansen, Newsweek
“The Heart of the Game is a vigorous, emotional, buzzer-beating film. It is truly worth seeing.” – Gene Shalit, NBC
“3 1/2 stars. A breathless adventure.” – Kyle Smith, NY Post
“It's a slam dunk from the heart.” – Tom Meek, Boston Phoenix
“Serrill's disciplined, beautifully constructed film is so propulsive, so spiritually triumphant, it's absolutely one of the best sports docs ever. I'll be shocked if it doesn't get an Oscar nomination.”– Mike Russell, Oregonian
“There's no denying the exuberant energy and emotional force of this movie. It gets to you.”– Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
“The Heart of the Game deserves to be a slam-dunk hit. The debut of director Ward Serrill, the film pairs the appeal of arthouse darlings Spellbound and Wordplay with the athletic intensity of Murderball , using extensive game footage so compelling it's almost impossible to refrain from cheering as if you were right there in the stands.”– Connie Ogle, Miami Herald
“The epic, six-year journey chronicled here features some of the most heart-thumpingly elating and crushingly sad moments in recent documentary film, driven by the on- and off-court lives of its all-too-real characters…” – Noah Cowan, Co-Director, Toronto International Film Festival
“3 1/2 stars. A triumph. The film's politics are fascinating. Like Hoop Dreams, (The) Heart of the Game has the potential to win a lare audience.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“Makes you want to stand up and cheer.” – Terry Lawson, The Detroit Free Press
“The Cinderella movie of 2006. A crowd-pleasing gem. A funny, charming and touching winner. It captures the passion and excitement that can be involved in even the most minor league of amateur sports.” – William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“A riveting film.” – Moly Fahner, Glamour
“A gripping film.” – John Powers, Vogue
“Extraordinary. Combines nonstop action with an absorbing story to become a classic on par with Hoosiers and Hoop Dreams. IT has unexpected depth and urgency.” – Ann Hornaday, Critic's Pick
“Suffice it to say that an entire team of Hollywood scriptwriters couldn't have come up with a better ending.” – Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
“I’ve only felt this exhilaration at a first screening twice before at sex, lies and videoptapes and Hoop Dreams. Heart of the Game with its astonishing women is as important and even more moving.” – Sheila Benson, Seattle Weekly
“Why equivocate? I love this movie. You will too. Resler, his players and Game are all winners.” – Leah Rozen, People
“For pure unvarnished excitement and enthusiasm this flick will be hard to beat for hoops fans, no matter who they are used to watching.” – Ron Wilkenson, Monster & Critics
“This film should be required viewing for all teachers, coaches, and school-age kids.” – Claudia Puig, USA Today
“Anybody who doesn't find themselves on the edge of their seat for this film's final minutes shouldn't be going to movies.” – Tom Long, Detroit News
“Yet another inspirational documentary that serves up the sort of dynamic characters and genuine intrigue that most of its fictional counterparts would kill for.” – Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter
“The Heart of the Game is a sweet, engaging journey with the Roosevelt Roughriders, whose kindly coach encourages the girls to snarl like wolves and devour like lions.” – Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice
“3 1/2 stars. It's highly engaging and hard to resist. Infused with hooks and surprises of a good suspense tale. If you or any kid over the age of 10 has even a half- interest in the definition of the word 'teamwork,' as well as the words 'real- life suspense,' this is the movie.” – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
“The Heart of the Game zips the sports doc genre into the Title IX age, courtesy of an unlikely pair of aces who rule the hardwood of Seattle's Roosevelt High School. Together they show that guys aren't the only ones with hoop dreams. And now they aren't the only ones with a slam-dunk hoops documentary.” – Chris Vogner, Dallas Morning News
“3 1/2 stars. Riveting. The first great women's sports movie.” – Jay Carr, AM New York
“An exhilarating story of loyalty and perseverance, The Heart of the Game succeeds as both inspiration and social commentary.” – Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times
“Who needs faux melodramatic school sports stories when a real-life documentary like (The) Heart of the Game shows it in living, breathing heart-wrenching color?” – Michael Szymanski, Hollywood.com
“An extraordinary saga. A smartly paced chronicle that nails the socialization of girls, the costs of playing ball, and the perils of female adolescence. The spectacular basketball is an added bonus. Hoop Dreams, move over!” – B. Ruby Rich, San Francisco Bay Guardian
“In a scene you cannot help but love, even if you don’t care about girls’ basketball: A player has an easy, last second shot to win a game. When she misses, she crumples to the gym floor, sobbing and is immediately joined by her coach who lies down next to her to give her a hug. That’s not a sports moment but a being human moment, and The Heart of the Game is not a sports documentary but a being human documentary.” – Chris Hewitt, St. Paul Pioneer Press
“4 stars. (The) Heart of the Game stirs our emotions, challenges our skepticism, rouse our sympathies and break our hearts. But in the end, it wins us over with its effortless honesty and unpretentious grace. A sublime, transcendent and utterly real sports drama that's better than anything any fiction writer could ever dream up. It's a story that pulses with overpowering emotions of youth, soars with hope and potential, plunges with confusion and defeat, simmers with social rage and pulls us along in the powerful wakes of its two compelling, eccentric and larger-than-life protagonists.” – Dennis King, Tulsa World
“A sweet, touching, engaging journey. Ward Serrill crafted so eloquent and moving a film from so many moving parts is a profound testimony not only to his craftsmanship, but also to the girls—no, the women—at the heart of The Heart of the Game.”– Robert Wilonsky, Westword
“It’s also to Serrill’s credit that his documentary turns out to have all the nail-biting intensity of an actual basketball game. As the clock runs down on the final game—in which Resler plans to play every one of his amazing young women, even those with almost no experience—the outcome is never clear. And As Ty Burr noted in The Boston Globe, it almost doesn’t matter. The win is already there, in the journey, and in The Heart of the Game’s clear-eyed, triumphant storytelling.” – Molly Templeton, Eugene Weekly
“How does a first-time filmmaker put together a documentary as compelling and dramatic as The Heart of the Game?” – Eric D. Snider, EricDSnider.com
“Genuinely inspiring and free of the drippy platitudes found in most sports- themed films, The Heart of the Game is an exhilarating triumph.” – Timothy Knight, Reel.com
“As far as magnetic team leaders go, it's hard to imagine a Hollywood screenwriter dreaming up a character as colorful as the coach in the basketball documentary, The Heart of the Game.” – Lisa Rose, Newarl Star-Ledger
“Attention, teenage athletes and the families who love them: Drop your cleats and proceed directly to a cinema where the girls high school basketball documentary The Heart of the Game is unspooling. Yes, guys too. Fictional Hollywood sports movies huff and puff to achieve what this modest reality film does without breaking a sweat: It's a wrenching, ennobling essay on teamwork and the hard struggle to change one's life.” – Ty Burr, Boston Globe
“Emotional, uplifting, vexing and infuriating, it's the first basketball documentary worthy of being compared to 1994's Hoop Dreams.” – Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
“You don't have to be a basketball player or fan to enjoy this movie. Documentary film- making at its zenith, this takes you on a magic carpet ride.” – Tony Medley, TonyMedley.com
“An astounding drama that spans seven years, wrestling with issues of race, gender and class while capturing the struggles of competition with intelligence and intimacy.” – Corey Hall, Orlando Weekly
“Few athletic films, factual or dramatized, have given so keen a sense of how a team builds and changes, and how acutely the grind and elation of a fast, complex sport can shape character and lives.” – David Elliott San Diego Union-Tribune
“This is a movie about empowerment, integrity and having fun, and those are always in season.” – Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Release the balloons! Fire the rockets! Put on the party hats! This movie is a winner!” – Craig Smith, Seattle Times