When the Game Stands Tall

Critics are blasting When the Game Stands Tall, and Rotten Tomatoes' summary says it is filled with "threadbare inspirational sports drama clichés." Whoever wrote that totally didn't get the film or intentionally wanted to subvert it. This film flies in the face of convention. It's outstanding on every level: a perfect effort.

Could it be that critics have noticed how many Christian films are doing well at the box office in a single year? This one is poised to be the fifth in 2014 that has a Christian message and crests $10M at the box office. According to Box Office Mojo in '06 there were four such titles, so this film is about to break the record!

That's not important to this film. Its message is that living a life of integrity is more important than any accolades.

I do think the filmmakers have to be a little stoked that their film is proving that the market has a place for more Christian films in a calendar year than people have thought, and there are four more en route before the year ends according to Box Office Mojo, which doesn't know about my friends' films, both opening on October 24: Return to the Hiding Place in 100 cities, and 23 Blast in 600 theaters. Hopefully investors will get the message.


Rated PG. Christians might also want to know:
* high school drinking
* grid iron violence
* there is a shooting
* a father is verbally and physically abusive to his son (PG violence)
* a man has a heart attack
* there's a brief fight
* the word da_n is used once
* a high school students kiss
You can find more details on IMDb, which mentions "religious exclamations," but we took them all to be sincere prayer, rather than taking the name of the Lord in vain.