No ironic detachment for William Dear's latest film: It may have every clich in the book, but The Perfect Game means everything it says.

Full Review | Original Score: 6.5/10 | May 13, 2014

It's all stencil work without a single touch of novelty, inspiration or originality.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 12, 2014

The Perfect Game proves that you don't always have to reach for lofty heights to work. It's certainly not a classic. It's a simple pleasure for those times when that's all you need.

| Dec 2, 2013

A welcome addition to the expanding genre of baseball films.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 29, 2011

It's hard not to root for an underdog, especially a relentlessly optimistic one, and the reality is Game has a lot of heart. But not much in the way of legs.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Apr 25, 2011

Packed with everything you'd want from an inspiring sports story. The pieces aren't put together as neatly as one would hope, but the film easily achieves the intended effect.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 13, 2010

Notable only for being a catalog of just about every kid-pic cliche' ever committed to film.

| Original Score: D+ | May 7, 2010

The Perfect Game is an earnest tribute, but the story could have been rendered more convincingly.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 7, 2010

A very slow and terrible film. This little league baseball story is so full of holes, that even diehard fans of the game would be hard pressed to sit through it. Paul Chambers, CNN.

| Original Score: C- | Apr 30, 2010

This movie is what's known as family entertainment, which means in this case that it's interesting and harmless.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 30, 2010

Director William Dear is not one to miss a sentimental beat.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 30, 2010

[From] the second minute of the movie I knew every single thing that was going to happen and there was not a single surprise.

Full Review | Apr 19, 2010

A perfect family movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 17, 2010

It's an unabashedly corny but occasionally stirring dramedy based on the true-life story of scrappy young baseball players from Mexico.

Full Review | Apr 16, 2010

Sentimental, inspiring tale about Little League underdogs.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 16, 2010

So overwhelmed by its own based-on-actual-events tale that it can't find the tone to tell it effectively.

| Apr 16, 2010

There has been only one perfect game in the history of the Little League World Series, and the story is as unlikely and as perfect as any underdog sports-movie fairy tale.

| Original Score: C+ | Apr 16, 2010

Anyone much older than, say, 10, will likely find the underdog saga sappy and manipulative, not to mention filled with sports movie cliches, including the following statement: "It will take a miracle to make them into a real team."

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 16, 2010

This inspirational film, written by first-timer (and producer) W. William Winokur, is not for cynics or those resistant to cute kids (and child actors sometimes given to mugging).

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 16, 2010

The script's focus is all over the place, and it surely doesn't help that each uplifting moment of this underdog story feels contrived and cloying.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Apr 15, 2010