For those who know me, it's no secret that I don't care for movie critics. They can be obnoxiously rude and cynical, their reviews often don't reflect the actual quality of a film, and movies are rarely as bad as they make them out to be. On the Rotten Tomatoes website, there are disparities between the critics' Tomatometer and Audience Scores all the time. And when a movie gets "mixed reviews," who can you trust?
Some people also think box office numbers are indicators of a movie's quality. Sure, word of mouth is a great way a movie gets marketed, but many movies, particularly independent films, don't have the marketing budgets or wide theatrical releases that major studios can provide. So I don't think much of box office sales either.
Take My All American, for example. Here's a film that had an estimated budget of $20 million and, with a very limited theatrical release, made only a little over $2 million in box office sales, yet I think it's one of the best football movies ever made.
Based on a true story, My All American is an inspiring film about Freddie Steinmark written and directed by Angelo Pizzo, the screenwriter of the sports classic films Hoosiers and Rudy. In fact, like Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, Freddie Steinmark had aspiring dreams for a career in football, but he faced challenges and was denied opportunities to prove himself. My All American has an underdog plot typical in sports films, but in this story, the protagonist also has a life-changing event.
This might be blasphemy, but I think My All American is even better than Hoosiers and Rudy. It ranks as one of my favorite sports films with an outstanding cast that includes Aaron Eckhart as Coach Royal of the University of Texas Longhorns.
Sports films are guaranteed to have good action, and they're usually inspirational and powerfully emotional. My All American is a tearjerker, and if you're not crying or your eyes are not watery by the end of the movie, you must be subhuman.
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