When the Game Stands Tall
De La Salle High School’s football program, the Spartans, had a historic run of 151 consecutive victories, and 12 straight championships, under coach Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel). Focusing on perfect practice, living a good life, and being a team on and off the field is the philosophy Ladouceur espouses, and it has served them well. Going into the 2004 season, however, tragedies strike that will test both coach and team in their resolve, and make it difficult for the community used to perfection to bounce back from adversity.
Despite the Spartan’s 151 game winning streak, and the confidence they display at the start of the film, Thomas Carter’s “When the Game Stands Tall” is an entry in what I call the “underdog sports movie” genre, as De La Salle must overcome struggles to get back the winning swagger they had at the start. The first struggle is Ladouceur having a heart attack in the off season that sidelines him as their coach when practices start up again in the spring and summer; even before the heart attack, Caviezel (so good a decade ago in “The Passion of the Christ”) felt very rigid in his performance as Ladouceur (which seems counter to the real footage we see of the coach during the end credits), making it difficult for me to really get into the emotional journey Ladouceur goes through in the film. (By contrast, Alexander Ludwig as star running back Chris Ryan, who has a domineering father to try and please, fared much better, as did Ser’Darius Blain as Cam Colvin, a graduate who’s all by himself after his parents have died.) And then, as he’s ready to go to college and be a star, Spartans alum T.K. Kelly is gunned down after trying to help a friend, leading to a loss that Ladouceur has a hard time processing, and rattles the team in a way that leads to two losses at the start of the new season, and a loss of the storied streak. For the community, the loss of the streak is devastating, and for the team, it’s difficult to bounce back until they get back to the basics of Ladouceur’s teachings. Watching them go back to their winning ways is done in pure sports movie cliches that are entertaining to watch, but nothing more (or less) special than what we’ve seen before. Yes, it’s a true story, and that makes for some emotional moments, but on the whole, the movie doesn’t stack up to the competition in the end, at least to this veteran viewer of this tried and true genre.
