The Game of Their Lives AKA The Miracle Match: 4.5/10
I love US soccer, but this film is more about (poorly executed) Hollywood cheese than it is about the actual 1-0 upset of England in the 1950 World Cup. Angelo Pizzo, who did a fine job writing Rudy, and wrote Hoosiers as well, (which I haven't seen but I've heard good things) comes off as either having a very limited knowledge of soccer, or is gearing the film towards children. For some reason, many facts about the team and the world cup had to be omitted or altered for the movie, which was completely unnecessary as the raw, real life story itself is remarkable. For example, the Haitian-American player, Joe Gaetjens, is depicted practicing Voodoo, but in real life was raised Catholic. (but I guess EVERYONE from Haiti automatically practices Voodoo >_> ) They also changed the captain for the game, from Ed McIvenny to Walter Bahr, for no apparent reason.
Apart from the US team being thrown together just weeks before the World Cup, another huge reason why the upset was so shocking was the US team's performances leading up to the tournament. England was of course regarded as the best team in the world, but the US had lost their last seven international matches by a combined score of 45-2. The filmmakers also completely ignored the other matches of that World Cup: just before the US/England game, the USA were beaten by Spain 3-1 and England had beaten Chile 2-0, so there was even more reason to think England wouldn't have a problem winning. Then, once they finally got to the game itself - which is supposed to be the climax and most interesting part of the movie - it was completely rushed. Should have been about twice as long, and they could have cut back on the cheesy and uninteresting "back story". A factual documentary about the game would probably be much more enthralling. This movie deserves a lower score, but I had a prior interest in the real-life game, most others would (and did) rate it lower. Disappointing.