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Year One
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Miracle
EMAILPRINTBuena Vista Pictures / The Walt Disney Company

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 36 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 41 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Eric Guggenheim
Directed by: Gavin O'Connor
Release Date:
Theatrical: February 6, 2004
DVD: May 18, 2004
Running Time: 135 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for language and some rough sports action
Starring Kurt Russell, Eddie Cahill, Michael Mantenuto, Patrick O'Brien Demsey, Kenneth Mitchell, Nathan West, Noah Emmerich, and Patricia Clarkson
The inspiring story of the team that transcended its sport and united a nation with a new feeling of hope. Based on the exciting true story of one of the greatest moments in modern history, the film captures a time and place where differences could be settled by games and a cold war could be put on ice. (Disney)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Pride and Glory Tumbleweeds
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...
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
To make a movie about that team and those games requires more than an ability to depict personal dramas or re-enact game highlights. It requires the re- creation of a world and a mind-set, and Miracle accomplishes both brilliantly.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Russell's conviction is so total that it tingles the spines of the audience.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
An extraordinarily exciting, absorbing and satisfying movie. Not quite "Seabiscuit," but comfortably close.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
This film reminds us you can have a miracle only when David slings a stone at Goliath, not when two Goliaths pummel each other with sticks.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden
What will make the film compelling even for audiences who never heard of the miracle on ice is Kurt Russell's taut, nuanced portrait of Herb Brooks.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
At the movie's core, disguised with pitch-perfect Minnesota accent and bushy comb-over hairdo, the perpetually underrated Kurt Russell (as the late coach Herb Brooks) delivers a brilliant performance of immaculate control.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
Key to drama's success is the artful underplaying by Kurt Russell in the lead role of Herb Brooks.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Bill Gallo
An unabashed flag-waver and one of the best feel-good sports movies ever, this authentic charmer does for its young hockey players what John Wayne used to do for the U.S. Marines, and it lifts us, too, onto the boys' cloud of belief.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Powered by an excellent Kurt Russell performance, Miracle treats old-fashioned, emotional material with an intelligence that respects both the story and the audience.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Reproducing every bruise, blowup and body-check and getting right up on the ice and into the fray, the movie brings the audience back to 1980 with bone-crunching verisimilitude.
Read Full Review >Premiere Kelly Borgeson
Miracle is definitely exciting, and its family-family to boot. Take the kids. They may not buy the "any dream is possible" stuff, but if nothing else, the story might pique their interest in American history.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
You keep rooting for the team, mostly because director Gavin OConnor (the terrific Tumbleweeds) cast real athletes instead of actors, a canny decision that pays major dividends when the big game is re-created.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
Ordinary folks working together to triumph over incredible odds, depicted in a Disney film that doesn't overdose on sentiment? That's the real miracle.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Although playing a hockey coach might seem like a slap shot for an actor, Russell does real acting here. He has thought about Brooks and internalized him.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Miracle -- the title taken from TV announcer Al Michaels' famous game-clinching cheer, ''Do you believe in miracles? Yes!'' -- wins not when it exhorts by word but when it shows by action.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Miracle is inspirational and uplifting -- qualities we are as much in need of today as we were during the winter of 1980.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Miracle really isn't about the game. It's about the game as metaphor for united we stand.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
What is lacking in suspense is more than made up for in passion and in sports cinematography virtuosity.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Angel Cohn
This hockey movie scores, thanks to director Gavin O'Connor's ability to skate that fine line between inspirational and melodramatic and achieve a satisfying balance.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Once these players strap on their skates and take to the ice, it's hard to suppress that lump in the throat.
Read Full Review >Film Threat David Grove
Powerful in its recreation of a magical time and place and it really does make us believe that miracles are possible.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ed Park
Kurt Russell is terrific as coach Herb Brooks, psychological tactician out to redeem his being cut from the 1960 U.S. squad, the last one to beat the CCCP.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Mark Sells
The film has many great moments, but dare I say, its not melodramatic enough. To understand the magnitude of the miracle on ice, you had to live it, breathe it, and feel it.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
You might cheer. You might cry. For a minute, you might even wish it were you on that medal stand.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
While the movie's heroes lay everything on the line, Miracle is too content to skate along the surface.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Patricia Clarkson, who has emerged as one of the screen's best character actresses, plays Brooks' wife with intelligence and down-to-earth warmth.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Does a yeoman's job of recycling the day-old dough that passes for its story.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Mark Jenkins
Miracle works best when the players are on the ice, shot in a faux-documentary style that uses the now-customary handheld cameras, fast pans and machine-gun edits.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Kurt Russell gives a terse, unsentimental performance as coach Herb Brooks, but director Gavin O'Connor sticks to the "Hoosiers" playbook.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
The best and most moving part of Miracle may be the closing credits, in which we see pictures of the actors accompanied by the names of the real-life characters they played and a strip of type that tells us where they are now.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Unfortunately Miracle is long on cliché and short on originality.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman
A suitably rigorous sports movie. On the other hand, at no time does it break out of the "sports movie" mold.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
The climax, a 20-minute dramatization of the crucial contest, lacks both suspense and poetry -- essentially, we're left to watch a clumsy recreation of a game whose outcome we already know. That's a sort of resurrection, I suppose, but miraculous it assuredly ain't.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Like the Oscar-nominated "Seabiscuit," though, Miracle fails to ring true as it tries to make a sporting event an all-embracing metaphor for the American way.
Read Full Review >New York Post Megan Lehmann
The feel-good finale -- an ending even less in doubt than that of the most predictable Hollywood fare -- is as rousing as you'd hope and the fast-paced, on-ice action is satisfyingly authentic.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
It's sometimes exciting but rarely thrilling, a victory of formula over finesse.
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 41 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Enzo P. gave it a7:
If you didn't realize in the movie they said attaboy a lot.
Daniel V. gave it a10:
This is one of my top five favorite films of all time. It really captures the emotion and feeling of that time.
Buckman B. gave it a10:
If you like hockey, you will love this movie. This is one of my all time favorite movies. Kurt Russell does an outstanding job and the movie very accurately portrays the real story. Very inspirational!
Myles #13 gave it a10:
THE best and most realistic hockey movie on the market... although I am a Canadian, the hockey fan in me loved this flick. Game scenes were well shot and entertaining and the acting was superb... although Kurt Russell is the obvious standout, every player fits the mould of their character- as the DVD says, the director looked for 'hockey players who could act', not actors who could skate. That brings quite a bit of realism to what otherwise could've been an ordinary movie. I could watch this movie again and again... if you love sports movies, you will enjoy Miracle!
Jake gave it a10:
Well Katrina, I hate sports movies, but this one was pretty good, I must admit. I liked how it showed what was going on in the world at that time, and I really liked the scene with Herb driving home listening to Jimmy Carter's speech. A great film, well acted, and true....pretty damn cool if you ask me, and I don't even watch hockey....maybe I'll start! Too bad, Katrina, that you let your hatred of America stand in the way of a great film. You're missing out!
Michelle B. gave it a 10:
This movie brings the emotional status of what it is to be an American.
Aubrey gave it a 10:
This is my favorite movie now for a few reasons. Firstly, because it showed how much it takes to play hockey and get to the top like the guys did. Secondly, it showed how muh better they got throughout the movie (couple of months!) Also cause it had Michael Mantenuto in it! He is hilarious and wicked HOT! This movie was really similar to what happened in real life and i congratulate the movie producers and the actors for their efforts! Two thumbs up guys!
