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We Are Marshall
EMAILPRINTWarner Bros. Pictures

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 93 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Jamie Linden (also story)
Cory Helms (story)
Directed by: McG
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 22, 2006
DVD: September 18, 2007
Running Time: 127 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for emotional thematic material, a crash scene, and mild language
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Anthony Mackie, David Strathairn, Ian McShane, Kate Mara, January Jones, and Kimberly Williams
For the team at Marshall University and the small West Virginia community around it, Marshall football is more than just a sport, it's a way of life. So, on a fateful night in 1970, when 75 members of the football team and coaching staff were killed in a plane crash, those left behind struggled to cope with the devastating loss. The grieving families found hope and strength in the leadership of Jack Lengyel (McConaughey), a young coach who was determined to rebuild Marshall's football program and, in the process, helped to heal a community. (Warner Bros.)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Terminator Salvation
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...
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Filmmakers have presented an unvarnished drama about Marshall University and the people who love it, and the results are inspirational.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Equally thrilling and wrenching, the film is an absolute must for anyone who loves sports and an eloquent explanation for those who don't understand what the fuss is about.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
"Charlie's Angels" director Joseph McGinty Nichol (aka McG) shows surprising restraint with this emotionally freighted material, weighting the movie heavily towards relationships.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
We Are Marshall is precisely what one expects from a true sports story: it's uplifting and inspiring.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves
Surprisingly restrained and undeniably entertaining.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
The result is a movie that inspires without pontificating and plays on the heartstrings without pounding on them incessantly.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The actor's (McConaughey) lovable exuberance is exactly what this heartsick movie needs.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
Often as not, the movie works. Here and there, it works kind of beautifully.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
The film is injected with a refreshing energy whenever McConaughey is on-screen, balancing some of the inherent sadness of the story.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
"Lost" star Matthew Fox pitches in with a strong performance as a coach who, by the laws of whimsy, didn't take the final flight home and had to struggle with survivor's guilt.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
To the movie's credit, the cast is better than average.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
McConaughey tucks into the role like a hungry man gobbling a ham sandwich.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole
An enjoyable time-waster, distinguished by an unexpectedly sharp comic turn by McConaughey, lots of boisterous horseplay and some stirring emotional clinches. All in all, an entirely serviceable night out for buddies looking to locate hidden feelings.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Mark Bell
If you're a college football fan, a fan of sports films or just a sports aficionado with a sense of history, this film is a safe bet.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
McG's Marshall lies at the nexus of Thornton Wilder and Norman Rockwell -- it's David Lynch without the irony -- and if he overdoes things a touch, there’s nothing disingenuous about it.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
What should have been an inspirational story about fortitude and courage in the face of mind-numbing tragedy becomes a compendium of sports cliches.
Read Full Review >Variety Brian Lowry
Full of good intentions, We Are Marshall has a game plan that's hard to fault, but as with any playbook, a scheme is only as good as how well it's executed.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
We Are Marshall has little of the bone-crunchingsincerity of the recent pigskin rouser "Invincible." This one is more like Unconvincing.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
It's a powerful subject, but director McG and screenwriter Jamie Linden haul out every cliché in the playbook.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
We Are Marshall is less a movie than a commemoration.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Has the kind of soulful subject matter that will strike some as profoundly emotional, but it gets a flag for roughing the tear ducts. This isn't football - it's cornball.
Read Full Review >Premiere Ethan Alter
We can only speculate why McConaughey chose to play the role this way, but in all honesty, it's a good thing he did. His loony performance is the only surprising thing about this otherwise paint-by-numbers inspirational drama.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Rob Nelson
Even by the low standards of the young-jocks-as-good-clean-soldiers movie, there's little at stake here, unless you count the kids' hunger to win one for the Gipper.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Matthew McConaughey injects some much needed life as the oddball coach who sets out to rebuild the football squad, and David Strathairn, Ian McShane, and Robert Patrick do their best with sketchy characters and artless dialogue.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
There are so many emotions in We Are Marshall that there's hardly any room for football -- and when we finally get some, even THAT'S clogged with excess feeling.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman
There are football movies, and then there's this 800-pound gorilla of a gridiron weepie, which should be penalized for roughing the viewer.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Its use of trite "Win one for the Gipper" dialogue, overbearing soaring music and conventional plot devices makes it far too formulaic to truly move us.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
A movie like We Are Marshall stands or falls on its ability to make you feel the pain and loss of individuals in a place where community pride and football are one and the same. As the film, directed by McG (the "Charlie's Angels" movies) from a wooden screenplay by Jamie Linden, follows a handful of Huntington residents during the months after the accident, not one of them comes fully to life.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
No go. Marshall deserved better than this misbegotten tribute.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
May not be a very enjoyable movie, but at least the badness is in good taste.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 93 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
E M gave it a9:
While this is a movie about the human spirit and overcoming profound loss. What it mostly does is demonstate the importance of creative leadership during devastingly and adverse situation. It shows this leadership during the storty in more than one character. You see this in the team members that survived who led the cause to continue the football program. And also from the University President who tirelessly works to ensure the resources needed are found. And the motivational Coach who explains that in this instance winning isn't everything. In this instance, just keeping the program alive is what the team, University and town needs. Then there was leadership from afar found in Bobbie Bowden, UWV coach at the time who honors the team on the UWV helmets and later lets the Marshall's Coach view UWV tapes to help with the "veer" offensive formation. Yes, this is a movie about leadership.
Jim M. gave it a9:
A really good movie; extremely moving on the devestation of Marshall football; the characters and acting were very good and the healing process is still going on today. I liked this movie a lot; if you have a heart then watch, We Are Marshall.
Movie review gave it a1:
I don't understand how people can think this movie was so great. It seems that most people that loved it live/lived in Huntington. This movie tried too hard to be melodramatic and if anything made me realize that this town that was in morning was trying too much to NOT LET IT GO. It was a tragedy what happened, but unfortunately life happens to have many more.
Tom B. gave it a10:
I felt I was there. My brother lived with the players who died. When he woke up on Sunday morning, he was one of 3 persons in Hodges Hall. The movie was exhilarating.
Lawrence E. gave it an8:
This movie was full of heart and is a fitting tribute the victims and family of the worst sports tragedy in history. I've watched it every time it's played and I plan on buying it.
Keith J gave it a7:
I gave it a 7 because it achieves its objectives. You should know going in what type of movie this is. Do not expect a great masterpiece of cinema. However, it's a good, mostly accurate retelling of a true tragedy. If you look at the "trivia" section about the movie on Wikipedia, you'll see some historical fudges (e.g. Red Dawson was never booked on the flight), but here's one that's not listed: the former coach who died, Tolley, was younger than the new guy they hired from Wooster. He was 30 years old and had been there just two years. He had a losing record both of those years. The movie makes it seem like he was a long-time almost legendary coach.
Steve K gave it a7:
Treads the thin line between corny and touching on ice skates, but I mostly found this movie to be touching and surprisingly emotionally complex. Not everyone agrees with the decision to bring back football, and it brings a very interesting dynamic to a story where even the leads don't always have the answers or know what to say in the face of such unspeakable tragedy. Who would? It feels emotionally real. The speeches by Matthew McConaughey are a little cliche, but after a hundred of these sports movies, aren't they all? I couldn't help but roll my eyes when he mentioned the heart of the team and touched his heart. Despite the fact that every sports movie is kinda the same, this one treads very different emotional ground, one that is difficult to tread given the source material and does so successfully.
