We Are Marshall

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Filmmakers have presented an unvarnished drama about Marshall University and the people who love it, and the results are inspirational.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Equally thrilling and wrenching, the film is an absolute must for anyone who loves sports and an eloquent explanation for those who don't understand what the fuss is about.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

"Charlie's Angels" director Joseph McGinty Nichol (aka McG) shows surprising restraint with this emotionally freighted material, weighting the movie heavily towards relationships.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

We Are Marshall is precisely what one expects from a true sports story: it's uplifting and inspiring.

Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves

Surprisingly restrained and undeniably entertaining.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The result is a movie that inspires without pontificating and plays on the heartstrings without pounding on them incessantly.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The actor's (McConaughey) lovable exuberance is exactly what this heartsick movie needs.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Often as not, the movie works. Here and there, it works kind of beautifully.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

The film is injected with a refreshing energy whenever McConaughey is on-screen, balancing some of the inherent sadness of the story.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

"Lost" star Matthew Fox pitches in with a strong performance as a coach who, by the laws of whimsy, didn't take the final flight home and had to struggle with survivor's guilt.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

To the movie's credit, the cast is better than average.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

McConaughey tucks into the role like a hungry man gobbling a ham sandwich.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

An enjoyable time-waster, distinguished by an unexpectedly sharp comic turn by McConaughey, lots of boisterous horseplay and some stirring emotional clinches. All in all, an entirely serviceable night out for buddies looking to locate hidden feelings.

Film Threat Mark Bell

If you're a college football fan, a fan of sports films or just a sports aficionado with a sense of history, this film is a safe bet.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

McG's Marshall lies at the nexus of Thornton Wilder and Norman Rockwell -- it's David Lynch without the irony -- and if he overdoes things a touch, there’s nothing disingenuous about it.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

What should have been an inspirational story about fortitude and courage in the face of mind-numbing tragedy becomes a compendium of sports cliches.

Variety Brian Lowry

Full of good intentions, We Are Marshall has a game plan that's hard to fault, but as with any playbook, a scheme is only as good as how well it's executed.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

We Are Marshall has little of the bone-crunchingsincerity of the recent pigskin rouser "Invincible." This one is more like Unconvincing.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

It's a powerful subject, but director McG and screenwriter Jamie Linden haul out every cliché in the playbook.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

It's uplifting, but shallow.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

We Are Marshall is less a movie than a commemoration.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Has the kind of soulful subject matter that will strike some as profoundly emotional, but it gets a flag for roughing the tear ducts. This isn't football - it's cornball.

Premiere Ethan Alter

We can only speculate why McConaughey chose to play the role this way, but in all honesty, it's a good thing he did. His loony performance is the only surprising thing about this otherwise paint-by-numbers inspirational drama.

Village Voice Rob Nelson

Even by the low standards of the young-jocks-as-good-clean-soldiers movie, there's little at stake here, unless you count the kids' hunger to win one for the Gipper.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Matthew McConaughey injects some much needed life as the oddball coach who sets out to rebuild the football squad, and David Strathairn, Ian McShane, and Robert Patrick do their best with sketchy characters and artless dialogue.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

There are so many emotions in We Are Marshall that there's hardly any room for football -- and when we finally get some, even THAT'S clogged with excess feeling.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

There are football movies, and then there's this 800-pound gorilla of a gridiron weepie, which should be penalized for roughing the viewer.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Its use of trite "Win one for the Gipper" dialogue, overbearing soaring music and conventional plot devices makes it far too formulaic to truly move us.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A movie like We Are Marshall stands or falls on its ability to make you feel the pain and loss of individuals in a place where community pride and football are one and the same. As the film, directed by McG (the "Charlie's Angels" movies) from a wooden screenplay by Jamie Linden, follows a handful of Huntington residents during the months after the accident, not one of them comes fully to life.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

No go. Marshall deserved better than this misbegotten tribute.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

May not be a very enjoyable movie, but at least the badness is in good taste.