The Greatest Game Ever Played: Critic Reviews

The movie is so hungry for love that the orchestra shrieks, caps fly into the air, and the slo-mo oozes in when the lad merely forces a final play-off...and there's still 20 minutes to go!

Predictable though it is, the picture is rousing and well paced, and the final competition is effectively suspenseful.

[An] overloaded movie.

The story's hard to resist.

Ouimet versus Vardon probably was the greatest golf game ever played, and Paxton and Frost do it justice, but I wouldn't sit through another simulated hole of it for Tiger Woods's salary.

As Ouimet strides toward the 18th green on the last day of the Open, it's impossible not to feel the crowd's excitement.

[A] fatally repetitive film.

Undeniably great, the movie is not. But a good tonic, it is.

I am not a golf fan but found The Greatest Game Ever Played absorbing all the same.

Paxton hits the ball squarely in capturing the psychology of his characters, but hooks it into the sand trap of effects and thematic overselling.

An affectionate ode to sportsmanship.

It's not easy to find a movie that both Horatio Alger and Happy Gilmore would endorse wholeheartedly, but the true-life golf story The Greatest Game Every Played qualifies.

The sappy musical score, the pretty photography, the underdog hero -- it basically pillages every sports-themed film you can imagine, but lacks one essential ingredient to make it work: the heart.

Francis Ouimet's story is a good one, and The Greatest Story may ultimately give golf films some much needed credibility.

The ever-swelling musical score would embarrass a Metamucil commercial.

A jazzy, snazzy crowd-pleasing sports drama.

As sports movies go, it doesn't get more exciting than this.

The Greatest Game Ever Played is as feel-good as any sports movie you're likely to find.

A classic sports-underdog tale gets solid, affecting treatment.

The latest and least effective of Disney's inspirational sports movies.

The characters model some wonderful behavior for youngsters%u2014things like tolerance, restraint, persistence, good manners, and good sportsmanship. Things that, sadly, seem to have gone the way of knickers.

I don't want to just take their word for it! Show me what was so special about this guy's game!!

Greatest Game succeeds because it has enough history and authenticity to please golf enthusiasts while maintaining enough heart and human drama to appeal to the rest.

If you're not willing to stand in the rain during a major tournament, you're gonna get bored with these movies.