The Longshots 2008

Tasha Robinson, Chicago Tribune: Musicians in need of a metronome could pick up a steady beat from The Longshots, a thoroughly conventional sports-underdog movie based on the real-life first female quarterback in the Pop Warner junior football league. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: There's nothing about the film's workmanlike, achingly conventional direction that says 'Fred Durst.' Thank God Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: The Longshots is a likable enough Cinderella story, one whose heart is clearly in the right place, even if it winds up on its sleeve once too often. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: A cliche-riddled, warm and fuzzy, small-town sports drama. Read more

Gregory Kirschling, Entertainment Weekly: The most surprising thing about the inspirational sports movie The Longshots is not that there isn't already an inspirational sports movie with that exact name. The big shock is that the director Fred Durst -- and he doesn't do half bad. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: Predictable course of practices, winning games and overcoming personal obstacles. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: There are few movies out right now more genuine than this Cinderella story. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Its charms, however slight or familiar, are present and its family-friendly characters and dialogue are refreshing. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: This genuinely affecting movie, based on a true story, has a heart as big as a football field even when its plot points are telegraphed. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Durst and Cube and Co. have done a decent job with a movie that never set out to be more than an average crowd pleaser. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: If I've seen one movie about a team of underdogs, I've seen a dozen. But I hadn't seen The Longshots before. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Anyone familiar with other inspirational sports movies knows that they lead up to a crucial game. The Longshots is no exception. Read more

Harper Barnes, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: It is unabashedly sentimental and, at times sincerely touching, mainly when Ice Cube and Palmer are alone together on the screen. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: So how does the creative team behind The Longshots freshen up such a hackneyed, cliche-ridden franchise? The answer is that, despite a game effort, they don't. Read more

Drew Toal, Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Former Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst directs in a surprisingly dull fashion, and most of the characters, including Jasmine's mother and father, are numbingly one-dimensional. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: A surprisingly tepid directorial effort by Limp Bizkit nu-metal rocker Fred Durst, pic seldom deviates from the genre-cliche playbook. Read more

Vadim Rizov, Village Voice: Director Durst and DP Conrad W. Hall bathe everything in a sickly beige, neutering all but Cube's natural charisma. Read more

Mike Mayo, Washington Post: The film works so well because the sports elements are the least important. Read more