User Score
7.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 34 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 34
  2. Negative: 4 out of 34

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  1. BrianG
    Sep 23, 2006
    10
    This movie touched me.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. KariK.
    Oct 1, 2006
    10
    This was an uplifting movie with an awesome moral. Even if the story seems unbelievable it is nice to escape to a place where bad guys can become good.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. ChaseP.
    Oct 1, 2006
    7
    I think this movie is alright. The Rock isn't the best actor, but the storyline to the movie is good! I just don't like how they copied Longest Yard!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  4. MichelleC.
    Oct 3, 2006
    6
    This is no different from the hundreds of football movies out there. The Rock is terrible as usual. Some of the other supporting roles were cast well though. Only for the serious football fan will this be enjoyable.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  5. EugeneM.
    Sep 17, 2006
    10
    I am giving this movie a ten out of ten because, it tells a great story. It's good to see something that is positive and has a good ending. We need to know that there is still good in all of us, especially in the midst of all the world's crisis.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  6. NJ.
    Feb 1, 2007
    8
    Yes, it is full of cliches. But this is what so many movies today don't have: a story that reflects what life could and should be like(rather than the "realism" of most films today); an uplifting life-is-good theme; and characters that you really care about and root for.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  7. MarkB.
    Nov 30, 2006
    8
    Fade this football drama to black and white, substitute Pat O'Brien for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, omit the street language and drive-by shootings, and include more than just one White guy on the team, and you've got a 1938 "B" movie that would play fairly well as Turner Classic Movies 2 AM fodder. In short, this shouldn't work nearly as well as it does, so why does it work so well? Unlike its closest current rival, the true-life-with-disclaimers rah-rah saga Invincible, whose pretentiousness only serves to accent how hokey and threadbare it is, Gridiron Gang's utter simplicity, conviction and sincerity really help it to score. Director Phil Joanou (Three O Clock High, U2 Rattle & Hum) and writer Jeff Maguire (In The Line Of Fire) are seasoned movie pros, but a measure of just how nicely their collaboration works is that one of its Big Moments--in which opposing gang members and other juvenile detention facility inmates in unison refuses a command, which of course tips him off that they're finally working together as a team--is lifted straight from The Dirty Dozen's playbook, but is handled so deftly that it took me days to realize it. Trevor Rabin's full-bodied musical score is, like the music for Patch Adams and last year's Shopgirl, one of those highly manipulative efforts that tries to tell me how to feel, but I forgave and even enjoyed it because Joanou rather daringly used it in place of the standard gangsta-rap CD jukebox wallpaper that you'd normally expect to hear in a movie dealing with gang warfare; the movie avoids the hypocrisy of speaking out against violence in the dialogue while inadvertently endorsing it on the soundtrack. Excellent pacing, characters worth rooting for, some wonderfully effective off-the-field sequences (the one where an assistant coach talks the dean of a Christian college into allowing the prison team to play by quoting Bible verses verbatim is a favorite) make this an inspirational movie that really inspires: if it's not quite as effective as recent personal favorites Akeelah and the Bee and The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, that's largely because there are already lots of football movies, very few spelling bee movies and, as far as I know, NO other housewife-who-wins-"complete-this-sentence-in-25-words-or less" movies in existence. The Rock, who has delivered witty, sly performances in The Scorpion King, The Rundown and Be Cool, is called upon to project total altruism and dedication; he does so with equal charisma and charm. He's apparently the reason why reviewers almost never use the phrase "as an actor, he's a great wrestler" when describing the film work of Hulk Hogan, John Cena or Kane...no matter how warranted! Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  8. LindaR.
    Sep 11, 2006
    7
    The rock proves to be impressive in this sweet and powerful story about prison and football. Surprisingly above my expectations, but nothing too unforgettable or stunning to be called "a masterpiece". Just another good movie.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  9. JoeG.
    Sep 15, 2006
    10
    This movie was well done. i found it extremely enjoyable, and the rock as always is great. the rock deserves so much more credit then he gets. he is excellent and brings a humanity to every role he plays. i hope this proves a lot of his haters wrong.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  10. JordanG.
    Sep 24, 2006
    0
    A stupid gangster-version of the Longest Yard. This movie ties in gangsters and drug-attics with football. The Longest Yard at least had very funny comedy and a good story. This: No comedy, drama and stupid.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  11. FooreB
    Apr 25, 2009
    10
    A great sports movie, with a great message. This is one of Dwayne Johnson's best.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  12. DaveM.
    Sep 11, 2006
    7
    Another, what I would call...excellent film by the standards of The Rock.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  13. CharlesL.
    Sep 14, 2006
    9
    This movie was a lot better than i was expecting, definanently a great popcorn flick
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  14. AndyO.
    Sep 15, 2006
    10
    Excellent screenplay.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  15. ZahidI.
    Sep 16, 2006
    10
    Very moving, not that much different from other football movies, but this one was impressive. [Rocky, Rocky, Rocky...]
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  16. ChadS.
    Sep 25, 2006
    5
    Where's the scene in which the coach warns his team about engaging in fistacuffs with the opposition? One little brouhaha and the Mustangs' season would've likely been cancelled. History says they made it through their schedule without incident, no doubt due to a coach's strong reprimand against retaliation(what's also missing is the trash talk you'd expect from young men playing former gang members). A film about sports, even when its results are of secondary concern, should at least make an attempt to be realistic(no personal fouls?). The big game, which resembles the current "Survivor", doesn't acknowledge that the game might possibly be racially-charged. "Gridiron Gang" doesn't quite work because its heart is too commercial. It should've been more like "Friday Night Lights" rather than "Remember the Titans". Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  17. Sjs
    Feb 13, 2007
    10
    A great movie! I'm not even a football fan. But these young men I was rooting for!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  18. Dec 19, 2011
    0
    I hated this film, Felt no emotion what so ever and I love Drama movies. The acting was below average but oddly enough it was the Rock at his best imo (from the other movies I have seen with him in it). It simply didnt work out.
  19. Feb 15, 2012
    0
    I wanted to like it and I honestly tried but I couldnt. The acting is generic at best, There is no sense of drama in this film what so ever, It just feels like another poor sports movie based off a real event and the film doesnt do the event its based on any justice at all. Its really disapointing.
  20. Apr 5, 2012
    1
    Ah boring! Denzel Washington as football coach in Remember The Titans is the best ever. Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson please quit movies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  21. Apr 15, 2012
    9
    This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. It has it's funny moments, dramatic and sad moments, and action scenes. It's an emotional journey based on a true story. This is not a film to be missed.
Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 25 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 25
  2. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. Reviewed by: Bill Gallo
    50
    Never mind the obvious parallels to "The Longest Yard" and "Remember the Titans"; what we get here is one huge, indigestible sports movie platitude.
  2. Parades itself as an ''honest'' message movie, a call for troubled kids to choose life over street nihilism, but the picture is so earnest that it leaves out the easy, old-school pleasure conjured by the last few years of Disney sports flicks (Invincible, Miracle, The Rookie).
  3. 50
    In a true-life sports tale like the recent "Invincible," you buy into all the inspirational clichés because the characters have inner lives and the movie is about something bigger; here, you keep hoping for something bad to happen to somebody just for the sake of balance.