Maybe it's all true. But one is always a little discomfited when life, or a movie, imitates weary melodramatic patterns this slavishly.
-Richard SchickelFull Review
The leads, Denzel Washington and particularly Will Patton, are so good they occasionally make you forget the material is shameless.
The result is the sort of deeply massaged truth that isn't stranger than fiction -- it's worse than fiction.
-Rick GroenFull Review
When the hard battle for integration is served up as a feel-good package, we've all been bamboozled.
-Peter Travers
Sturdy, gripping and well-balanced if somewhat artificial.
-Susan StarkFull Review
If viewed as a crowd-pleasing, feel-good sports movie, the film is an unqualified success.
-James BerardinelliFull Review