94% Undefeated

All Critics (69) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (4)

Volunteer high school coach Bill Courtney says, "Football doesn't build character. Football reveals character." The triumphant sports documentary "Undefeated" proves that it does both.

[A] stirring, emotional portrait of a high school football team in the impoverished neighborhood of North Memphis, Tenn.

It's a bit too long and a bit too vague at times, but this is a film about dedication, progress and the bond of human effort. It just also happens to include football.

"Undefeated'' needs less of what we know we've seen (the football stuff) and more of the players' and coaches' lives, which even if we feel we've seen, we haven't.

What makes this a terrific film is how much we care about the players.

For all its good intentions, the film, like its main subject, is a tourist, earning trust as it earnestly captures the incredible struggles of these young men, but never digging deep enough to actually make the story theirs.

A touching documentary that offers a field-level portrait of male mentorship, compassion and unvarnished hope - all without a Hollywood ending.

It is a powerful reminder of the difference one person can make -- and of the consequences when no one is willing to make that difference.

What lifts 'Undefeated' above other sports docs is the remarkable force of Bill Courtney's personality.

It may call to mind The Blind Side or Remember the Titans, but there's no Hollywood glitz in the blighted burg of Manassas.

I regret that we don't meet more of Courtney's players, but that might have required a miniseries rather than a movie. And "Undefeated" makes sure the coach who is its central figure is more complex and fascinating than most fictional movie characters.

...an inspirational and often touching film that lets us get to know a dedicated coach who has faith in his players and delivers what he promises (almost).

This is a film that doesn't cater only to the traditional football fan.

In introducing us to [Coach] Courtney...Undefeated finds its voice

Just like a well-fought playoff win, it'll leave you a little misty-eyed.

This is one of the best sports documentaries of the last few years and while I don't think it should have won in a VERY good year for non-fiction film, I'm really not upset at all that it did.

Finds the warmth and vulnerability that is sometimes hard for outsiders to see beneath the rough, damaged exterior of the impoverished Memphis neighborhood where much of the action takes place.

The hardened inner-city kids here are far more authentic than anything Hollywood can offer, and as a result the film has a raw emotional weight that commercial features rarely achieve.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/undefeated_2012/

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