Advanced Search Beta »
Basic Search Fields
More Than a Game
Metascore
59 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 18 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 18
  3. Negative: 1 out of 18
view
per page
  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    100
    A kind of classic of American sports history.
  2. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    90
    This is one helluva good movie that craves the eyeballs of as many American high schoolers as it can possibly get.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    83
    It's the die-hard camaraderie that undergirded this squad and lifted it to the top.
  4. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Michael Dequina
    80
    The film is filled with extraordinary characters and equally extraordinary circumstances that Hollywood could craft no better in any feature script.
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    80
    A knockout of a sports documentary. Destined against its will to be known as "the LeBron James movie," it is all that, and a good deal more.
  6. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    75
    While More Than a Game is a terrific exhibition of talent, exuberance and skill, it is above all a moving tribute to enduring friendship.
  7. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    70
    Fascinating not only for its portrait of an emergent--and endearing--superstar, but for the evolution of three teammates the young LeBron came to love, and the hard-driving coach who evolved with them.
  8. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Mark Feeney
    63
    A missed opportunity is the effect of the school on the boys, and vice versa. Instead of sociology, More Than a Game focuses on personality.
  9. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    63
    Unfortunately, producers (including James) went for the easy layup, showing so much on-court action instead of trying to hustle for insights about sports and society.
  10. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    60
    The result would make an excellent inspirational video for aspiring players, but it's not quite ready for the pros.
  11. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    60
    The art is lacking, but the material is remarkable enough to make up for pedestrian filmmaking.
  12. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    58
    Belman doesn't look into the bigger problems of James' team jet-setting across the country during the school year, or the spectacle allowed to build up around him. He cares most about what happens on the court, which is diverting and fun as far as it goes, but not close to the whole story.
  13. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Hartlaub
    50
    The final message is a strong one: Even when the starting forward is one of the best high school players ever, basketball is still a team sport.
  14. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    50
    More Than a Game is less than a movie.
  15. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    50
    The documentary hasn't the depth of another study of high school ball, "Hoop Dreams,"' and tends toward repetition, but, in the end, its heartfelt saga scores.
  16. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Nick Schager
    40
    With the film heavily favoring extensive on-court footage at the expense of in-depth individual portraits, the "more" offered here is merely skin-deep, basketball-is-a-brotherhood uplift.
  17. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Nick Pinkerton
    40
    Good game footage, a few clear looks at the kids behind it, but mostly as processed as "Space Jam."
  18. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    25
    Like one of those five-minute featurettes on star athletes deployed to soak up time on the pregame show -- expanded to a paralytic length.
prev next
Page:
  • 1