American Underdog

source: American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story

I have to begin by saying I am a huge NFL fan. But, to my surprise, this was not a movie about the NFL. It is a touching story about an athlete and the strong woman by his side. We often here the words faith, hope, and love in spiritual talks and discussion. What do these words look like in life.... The Warner family. This movie does a nice job at showing the path to success and yes, it comes with trials and tribulations. This was well done.

Powerful, this is just solid. A very inspirational story that will make you tear up....a story that is so rare and unique in football. Perfectly performed by great actors. Highly recommend this for the sport fans.

Refreshingly not woke. I just want to say, supposedly this is a Christian movie, it isn't, not at all, but it is a story of a man and his family who fight to make their dreams happen despite the odds, and that is what makes it truly inspiring. It isn't even so much about football, but about the work it takes to make what seems an impossible goal, come to fruition. There is some football, but not as much as some people here obviously wanted, they obviously missed the point of the movie. It is amazing that Kurt doesn't give up, even though while I'm watching it, I'm like "This dude is getting old... How is he gonna get in the NFL?" Even though I know he did indeed play for the NFL, it sure seemed like a longshot that he ever could, heck almost impossible, and yet he did, and did incredibly well. To the Christians specifically coming to watch this I need to give you a slight explanation. From hat I know of Kurt Warner, AND from what is in this movie, which seems accurate, he is more of a deist than an actual Christian, he believes in a God, but not the God. This is pretty apparent from the fact that him and his wife prior to getting married live together for several years in the movie and engage in premarital sex. For all y'all nominal Christians, yes, premarital sex of ALL kinds is a sin. So, given I know he isn't really a Christian, it's a bit easier to cut him some slack. To any non-Christian, this will just be an inspiring story, and it is! The movie is well-filmed, well-directed, and well-acted. I have no complaints on the technical aspects, nothing mind-blowing, but overall, well-executed. The script is good, except, I'd have liked a better time representation, I really couldn't tell how much time had passed overall between when he meets his future wife, and the end of the movie, or any other event. That was slightly obnoxious. Also, strangely, even though several years pass, their children never seem to age.... Weird. Other than that, no real complaints. I am a bit of an underdog myself I guess. I have been told by a lot of people I can't do this or that, and I just ignore them. You have to. I found this movie at the perfect time when I'm doing something in my life that is a huge leap of faith to trust the Lord(I'm a Bible believing Christian), and keep going. I feel stupid for going on the path I'm on because it seems so unlikely to work, but I can't quit, or I'll just look back and go "Gee, would I have made it?" How do you know until you give it all you've got everyday? You don't! Until you push yourself just a little further everytime you work out, or work on your craft, you are always moving to better, or you're moving backwards. This movie also very well-portrayed the strain pursuing things in life can put on a relationship if you're not working together as a team. It's hard to maintain a relationship and work towards a challenging life consuming goal, but it's not impossible. I felt like this movie was speaking straight to me, and I cried several times, not because of Kurt, but because I'm in the same shoes he was, and for years I've had to fight tooth and nail to even come close to doing what I'm about to do, and it has been a hard path riddled with constant challenges and tears. But, I am glad I haven't gave up, I'm glad Kurt didn't give up, and if you are in the same boat as me, I think this movie will really encourage you. It should be encouraging to everyone honestly.

Get the tissues - American Underdog will make even the most stone face man let go... Best sports themed feel-good movie I've EVER seen (and I see a LOT of movies)! Second only to CODA this year in the feel good category at large, which might very well be the best of all time. It was a memorable year for feeling good watching movies 👏. Better than anticipated, and glad I bought American Underdog (only way to see it right now other than in Theaters). Worth it! My "Favorite Film of 2021" [EDIT: Replaced later by 'CODA' which I saw after this film] Anyone who reads my reviews knows I don't give out 10s easily. Like Kurt Warner, this film defies the "usual" and earns my 10 without reservation. 👍👍

I am only 4 years younger than Kurt Warner. And saw the path of which caused one of the most electrifying quarterbacks in American football history. I recall watching him zip a football so fast the camera couldn't follow. Corny as it may sound, I saw a guy who was desperate to win. Throughout the championship season, I kept hearing how in arena football there are no first downs. That this training embedded in Warner caused a massive shift in how we consume the sport. That the "west coast offense" overtook the ground and pound of previous years. His level of play stood out. It is also a credit to head coach Dick Vermeil (played here by Dennis Quaid) allowed this style of play to take over. Never mind the ball buster which was offensive coordinator Mike Martz (whom I kept thinking what a disaster of a head coach he was). That said, the movie itself is schmaltzy and corny. Two things I love in movies. There is nothing more sickening than when filmmakers today have to let their sucky life overpower their films. Life sucks for them, therefore, they need to express that suckiness onto you. Not this film. This movie is a very safe movie. Nothing cruel or hateful about it. Only made with a good heart. Now, I also recall Kurt Warner himself being a complete square. I can clearly recall how corny he was with his Christian beliefs. Very distinct in that you never saw a player more demonstrative of his faith. I thought "Man, can this guy get any more lame" This is as a result of the early 2000's. Now, as an adult I can see it was what righted his ship. As "lame" as Warner was, he gained the respect of everyone who ever doubted him. It's hard to get a gauge on how true this story really is. Almost seems phony. But the way actor Zachary Levi plays the man shows me the complexity of his situation. The climb to get to the top came with having a good heart. A true heart. And that is infinitely more respectable than fictional Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx) in "Any Given Sunday." As most have mentioned there is little football in this movie. True. The true underdog part is paralleled with his girlfriend/future wife Brenda's (Anna Pacquin) son who is blind. The inspiration there is that he overcomes his malady to do the things that everyone doubts in him. The son doesn't know what he doesn't know and therefore presses forward in his own pursuits to do things in life a blind person cannot. It wouldn't surprise me if this observation isn't made in the book this movie is based on. Kurt Warner does deserve a film. Oftentimes we are saddled with biopics that seem to fall short of interest. I believe that is why most of the focus isn't on the football but on life. Because most won't know or care about the importance of professional football. It wasn't the football that Kurt hung his life on. That was pure icing on the cake. He overcame ageism to become one of the best in what he wanted to do. To many of us, this will tell you to get something you want to do and pursue it with all your heart. And, by the way, be sure to have someone to share it with. Because otherwise that victory is hollow. A wonderful message to hang a movie on. Those of you who are opposed to Christian messages may be turned off by the vanilla content. There are no guns being fired, no drug or alcohol abuse. It's wholesome as Hell. They are just simple Iowa natives who overcame adversity to prove to the "big city folk" country folk are talented as well (this is made very clear, Kurt's adverse reaction to country music). It is a nice simple story about simple people. Very nicely made flick.

I gave a very average rating for a very average movie. I went into this hoping that maybe it can have the same effect as 42 did. While it had some elements it just wasn't anything memorable or anything unique about this. It's not the best football movie, it's not the best Christian-based movie, it's just very run-of-the-mill. The acting is average, Levi does a fine job trying to exercise his dramatic skills, but was never hooked into his performance. Anna Paquin plays your typical wife with typical problems and some of it is very cliched, and the one guy I was looking forward to seeing was Dennis Quaid, but even he didn't turn in a mind-bending performance, sometimes came across as awkward and silly. The only two things that did impress me however was the young actor who played Zack who's name is Hayden Zaller, I thought he did a fantastic job, giving the only standout, most genuine performance in the film. The last thing is the editing at the end of the film was very subtle and caught me off guard, but at the same time I do feel like the ending was compromised as it just didn't feel complete, I appreciate what they were going for and I like the editing itself but what it resulted in for the ending as a whole didn't work for me. Overall, I was very unimpressed by this film, I don't hate it or want it to be burned from human existence. However, it was just very generic, very mundane, nothing about the movie is anything I'll remember, certainly not in the same way as 42. The acting was subpar minus Zaller, the story was uneventful and flat, but on the same token, it's a very harmless film. If you just want a movie that's not too complex and is told in the simplest way, and a movie you can just sit back and relax with as your full attention is not required, then you may enjoy. For people like me who likes to get engrossed in the story and ask for a lot more to be offered, this is not the movie for me. If seen better movies similar to this, and I don't need to talk about it any further. 6.1/10.

The storytelling and the pacing of this movie just felt off. The conflict and "Christian" themes felt shoe-horned in and the whole story contained a thousand overdone cliches. My biggest critique though is that, while the main actors were both fine, their chemistry seemed almost non-existent. I wanted to root for them but like, meh. The whole movie just felt forced and awkward and overall, I don't feel like I felt what the movie so desperate and obviously wanted me to. On a positive note, the real life clips were pretty cool and definitely my favorite part.

For the most part, most of us know this story. Kurt Warner, NFL SB MVP, NFL MVP, Hall of Famer and never drafted. But this dives so much deeper into the full story When we get to watch this unfold on screen, it's even better than hearing about it from sports announcers on Kurt's journey to the NFL. I went in expecting to be inspired because it's one of those stories that can only happen in TV and movies. But when it's a true story, it makes it even more inspiring. Highly recommend this movie. So many times in life, things get tough. A lot of us might be in tough situations now. But it doesn't mean it will stay that way. There can be a light at the end of the tunnel but you might just have to keep fighting for it. That's what this movie shows us. That no matter how tough life's obstacles may be, things can get better.

One only has to ask his is this level achieved lol. I'm sure it has only to do with the number of reviews they've made which of course equals a high number of thumbs up from other reviewers. Purely a numbers game. Because obviously most of their reviews are laughable. They think it their duty to give us a summary of the plot which is already coveted in the 'PLOT SECTION' for each movie. That's hardly a review. And most those that don't dwell on plot try and give us their opinion on whether the movie is historically accurate, or take us through movie review 101 going over the various review parts found on movie review Wikipedia. What they don't do is tell us (as most of the real critics do) is give us a real flavor for the movie and include descriptive nuances about why or why not they find it interesting. If you must see regular joes comments as opposed to real critics (Metacritic) (whom I recommend highly over the general comments) I'd recommend skipping the top reviewers by going to the top right corner and choosing the reviews by order of date and you can chooose either newest or oldest. That way you can get a fresh sense of what the average person thinks about the movie without a bunch of pseudo-intellectual BS provided by the top reviewers.