source: Spirit of the Game

I just watched this movie and I thought other reviews that mentioned low budget, poor acting, writing, and filming effects were unfair. I want to say I am not a Mormon (don't want to be a Mormon) and this was my first "Mormon movie", I was pleasantly surprised. It is a great family movie. I have watched a lot of religious movies in my lifetime (I am 65+) so you could call me a fan of all different kinds of inspiring religious movies (Christian, Muslim, Catholic, Hindu etc ) SO from my "vast" knowledge I want to say this movie is worth your time. You will not come away knowing a lot about more about the Mormon beliefs, but you will (or should) admire the dedication demonstrated in this movie that could be attributed to the characters Mormon's belief. You can then decide for yourself what more you might want to know, or not. But if you are a fan of family friendly movies put this on your list. I think it was well done, just don't expect all the high price special effects and I don't think you will be disappointed. (I rated it 8 out of 10 because I am reluctant to promote Mormonism. A personal bias.)

You cant ever give perfect to a biographie but you cant also give low. It doesnt have millions to spend on the budget but it tells you the story in a nice way. Its not bad, if the story interests you see it and you will be satisfied, if you find the story boring then dont bother seeing it . So simple.

Fantastic story, I am a Mormon and lived right by Preston Idaho and I had never heard this story, so glad it was told. I do wish they would have used some better basketball playing, would have made it even more enjoyable.

We just saw this newly released film. It is another in an ongoing stream of films that target the movie-going Mormon audience. First of all, I applaud the efforts of film makers to produce family-friendly, watchable and uplifting movies. Sometimes however the quality just isn't there...and that is the problem with this effort. The basic story line: Mormon missionaries are serving in Australia while the 1956 Melbourne Olympics were on the horizon. The challenge is that the Australian Olympic basketball team is pathetic and the coach needs help. He discovers an unexpected resource that might just solve his problem - North American missionaries who grew up playing the game, but as missionaries will they be permitted to play? OK, about the film, in a word it is disappointingly amateurish and painfully low budget. The script includes dialog that is so predictable and painful that my wife and I looked at each other on and off throughout the film and alternated between chuckling, laughing out loud and groaning. Don't get me wrong, this is a fantastic story and one that deserves to be told but the presentation of some of the characters, e.g., the mission president, his wife, the missionary's parents and some others were just too much - only caricatures of reality and all too predictable! There were also some things that were distractions in the film that pulled my attention away from the story. The film-makers apparently didn't do much in the way of fact- checking and you can see artwork hanging on the walls of various rooms that are pieces that were produced well after the 1950s. I won't say which ones but they were pretty obvious to those familiar with modern Mormon artwork. BTW if you are hoping to see some good basketball footage in this story (that revolves around basketball), sorry, it's just didn't happen. The basketball scenes were over- choreographed and there was very little actual ball playing that made onto the film. And the footage that was included revealed that the main actors weren't very good ball players. Maybe it would have been better if they had just filmed some cast members and extras actually playing. It's OK if a main cast member isn't a very skilled player. To sum up... Story potential = 10; Script = 2; Acting = 3; Continuance and accuracy = 3; Casting = 2; Cinematography = 2; Sports reality = 2 I wish my review was more positive, but this movie isn't very good. Lest anyone think that this review is a bash at Mormonism, I am a fully active member of the Mormon Faith and I too served a mission. It's just that IMO that movie left a lot to be desired.

This is an upbeat story the entire family will enjoy. It just told a wonderful, true story. It contained absolutely no objectionable material of any kind. Hollywood take note. We want more movies like this. The actors were genuine. The 1956 setting was believable. There were a couple inside jokes but if you've watched The Other Side of Heaven then you'd get it. We watched it in Provo, Utah and the audience applauded when the movie was over. What a great compliment. You will be uplifted and happy you watched it.

After reading the review in the local newspaper I decided to skip seeing this in a theater. Then I heard raves from my cousin and his wife and decided to check it out with my wife. So glad that we did as we really enjoyed the film. Based on true story that we were not familiar with but one that was fascinating to learn about. Mormon haters will go on hating Mormons but any reasonable person will find this story of missionaries getting involved with helping train a team about to compete in the Olympics to play better basketball is exciting and inspiring. Now out on DVD I highly recommend it to sportsmen and families who love faith building movies.

Spirit of the Game