Metacritic Film

Believe in Me

Starring Jeffrey Donovan, Samantha Mathis, Bruce Dern, Bob Gunton, and Alicia Lagano

MPAA RATING: PG for some mild thematic elements and language

IFC Films
Drama
108 minutes | Color
USA
Released In Theaters March 9, 2007

Set in Oklahoma in the mid-1960's, Believe in Me is the story of a young man whose dreams of coaching boys high school basketball are derailed when the school board assigns him to the girls' basketball team instead. The girls and the coach eventually earn each other's trust, and despite the opposition of the conservative town, learn how to play to win. (IFC Films)

WRITTEN BY
Robert Collector

DIRECTED BY
Robert Collector

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

xx / 100

Critic Reviews

60	The Hollywood Reporter It's very much in "A League of Their Own" league, but what the inspirational sports drama Believe in Me might lack in freshness, it nicely compensates for in heartfelt, winning conviction and spirited performances.
50	Variety Even with ties to the true story of high school hoops coach Jim Keith and his unlikely triumph with a 1960s Oklahoma high school girls' squad, the hackneyed, overlong Believe in Me is much too similar to a recent flood of inspirational basketball pics to distinguish it.
50	Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt Despite all its clichéd moralizing and blatant borrowings, the movie does offer a few clever twists on an old formula. "Hoosiers" may have been a better film, but Hackman never had to coach a team to victory after his star player quit to go have a baby.

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