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60
9
17
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37
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53
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66
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45
Box, The
61
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55
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43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
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29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
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61
Extract
39
Fame
xx
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30
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34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
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27
Gamer
41
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39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
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55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
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69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
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42
Orphan
28
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63
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86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
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30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
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83
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33
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45
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55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
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35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
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88
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71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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96
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56
Adam
72
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39
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78
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61
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Afterschool
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58
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72
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76
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86
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13
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70
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35
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71
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26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
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45
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81
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xx
Carriers
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75
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67
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71
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Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
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85
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55
Endgame
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Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
66
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
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29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
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83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
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61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
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66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
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You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Cup, The

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 1 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by: Khyentse Norbu
Directed by: Khyentse Norbu
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 28, 2000
Running Time: 94 minutes, Color
Origin: Bhutan / Australia
Summary
RATING: G for General Audiences
Starring Jamyang Lodro, Orgyen Tobgyal, and Neten Chokling
World Cup fever has reached the Indian Himalayas in this comedy about the lighter side of life in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. This touching story tackles the issues of winning and losing, life in exile and the impact of the modern world on a highly traditional lifestyle. (Palm Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Travellers & Magicians
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The first feature-length movie from Bhutan tells its lighthearted story through smart performances, appealing images, and unfailing good humor.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
A chalice of unpretentious delight, flowing over with goodwill, a cheeky love for soccer and, uh, Buddhist humor.
Read Full Review >New York Post Hannah Brown
So joyous it can actually shake viewers out of a bad mood.
Dallas Observer Andy Klein
This sweet little movie is a mild comedy, a much calmer cousin to "Sister Act," with men in robes rather than women in habits.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
A very funny movie, alive with a sense of absurdity and human foible.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
The glimpses of religious life bumping into secular passion are touching and warmly comic.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday
It's a clear-eyed, unsentimental portrait and indelible for that very reason.
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A delightful demonstration of how spirituality can coexist quite happily with an intense desire for France to defeat Brazil.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Past the foreign mysticism and eccentricity of Tibetan Buddhism to portray its characters as unmistakably, identifiably human.
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Could well end up on the coming Oscar ballot for best foreign language film.
Read Full Review >Film.com Elizabeth Weitzman
Wouldn't you rather learn about his culture from Norbu than from Richard Gere?
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Charming, slyly comic and far from conventionally religious.
TV Guide Ken Fox
The tragedy of modern Tibet haunts this otherwise lighthearted tale of life inside a Buddhist monastery-in-exile.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
While never dull, The Cup is a leisurely, quiet film, rife with staid, sometimes ponderous moments reflecting the seriousness of their situation in exile.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
An improbably funny and transcendent account of soccer-mad Tibetan monks in exile at a Bhutan monastery.
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Though The Cup is lovely to look at, it has none of the ceremonial rigor mortis of Scorsese's "Kundun."
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Norbu tries too hard to please and charm, but his film at least carries the advantages of unactorly faces and a premise based on actual events that dramatizes the issue of religious vocation in a secular world.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson
A cute, clichéd, coming-of-age comedy.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
Never offers much enlightenment through its message.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Little more than a plodding celebration of global television trumping everything in its midst.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jacques R. gave it a 7:
A must-see for anyone who has a passion for watching football (soccer to you Yanks)(and a should-see for everyone else)!
