X
  • 2006
  • R
  • THINKFilm
  • 1 h 30 m
  • 2006
  • R
  • THINKFilm
  • 1 h 30 m

Summary Off the Black is a coming-of-age story of teenager Dave Tibbel (Morgan) who copes with his own distant father (Hutton) by forming an unlikely friendship with a disheveled, irascible high school umpire, Ray Cooke (Nolte). As they grow more dependent on each other, Ray asks Dave to go to his 40th high school reunion and pretend to be his s...

Directed By: James Ponsoldt

Written By: James Ponsoldt

  • 2006
  • R
  • THINKFilm
  • 1 h 30 m
  • 2006
  • R
  • THINKFilm
  • 1 h 30 m

Off the Black

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 20 Critic Reviews
62
User Score Generally Favorable Based on 9 User Ratings
6.4
My Score
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Where to Watch

Summary Off the Black is a coming-of-age story of teenager Dave Tibbel (Morgan) who copes with his own distant father (Hutton) by forming an unlikely friendship with a disheveled, irascible high school umpire, Ray Cooke (Nolte). As they grow more dependent on each other, Ray asks Dave to go to his 40th high school reunion and pretend to be his s...

Directed By: James Ponsoldt

Written By: James Ponsoldt

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 20 Critic Reviews
62
65% Positive
13 Reviews
30% Mixed
6 Reviews
5% Negative
1 Review

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 20 Critic Reviews
62
65% Positive
13 Reviews
30% Mixed
6 Reviews
5% Negative
1 Review

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
90
Like a good pitcher, Trevor Morgan varies his emotions and perfectly grooves his role as the high-school star. Huffing and puffing, Nolte plops around with brilliant finesse, smartly exposing this frustrated old ballplayer's inside strength and fears.
FULL REVIEW
75
There's nothing too small about Nolte's performance. He's the perfect companion for a rookie feature film director looking to make a good first impression.
By Peter Hartlaub FULL REVIEW
75
As good as Nolte is, the relatively unknown Morgan matches him scene for scene. And he's not the only impressive newcomer. Remarkably, this confident indie is the first feature from writer-director Ponsoldt, who shuns any slickness to embrace the rough edges of his low-budget, bare-bones story.
By Elizabeth Weitzman FULL REVIEW
70
A disarmingly droll and insightful indie.
FULL REVIEW
60
The leads are good, and Timothy Hutton is memorably off-putting as the pitcher's disengaged dad. But having created the aching umpire, Ponsoldt occupies him with some fairly shopworn situations.
By J.R. Jones FULL REVIEW
58
Playing a cantankerous, beer-swigging human wreck of a man for the umpteenth time, Nolte is very good but very familiar.
By Peter Rainer FULL REVIEW
25
If your film is as downbeat and deflated as this one, you had better be leading up to a more interesting insight than, "The older I get, the more I know that I don't know anyone."
By Kyle Smith FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 9 User Ratings
6.4
56% Positive
5 Ratings
22% Mixed
2 Ratings
22% Negative
2 Ratings

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 9 User Ratings
6.4
56% Positive
5 Ratings
22% Mixed
2 Ratings
22% Negative
2 Ratings

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

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Production Company Forensic Films
Release Date Dec 8, 2006
Duration 1 h 30 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline Would you let this man be your father?
View All Details

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