What we have here is an efficient compilation of the hoariest sporting cliches given a breath of life by some charming actors.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 31, 2024

There's hardly anything in “The Beautiful Game” that audiences have not seen a thousand times before. And that's unfortunate, because the Homeless World Cup has dramatic potential that transcends the underdog story archetype.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 8, 2024

I love this movie. It's as ordinary as the dirt you play soccer on, but I don't care. It's fantastic.

| Apr 5, 2024

The film rolls along smoothly like many a British sitcom, finding its humor largely in mild embarrassment, ironic understatement and well-rehearsed comic timing.

| Mar 29, 2024

You can see the ending from a mile away. But that does not stop you from cheering the various teams of unhoused players.

| Mar 29, 2024

"The Beautiful Game" has a ton of heart, lively sports action, beautiful scenery, and the true MVP every time we see him, Bill Nighy as Mal, the coach of the English team.

| Original Score: B+ | Mar 28, 2024

Peppered with funny and inspiring moments... “The Beautiful Game” is a model of a modern “nice” movie.

| Mar 28, 2024

Is it a little glossy and sanitized with a jaunty score? Sure. But it also thoughtfully explores themes of redemption, invisibility, pride and sportsmanship without being preachy or condescending.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 26, 2024

It’s a film with considerable heart and, in Nighy and Ward, the Tinker Bell sparkle of the true film-star. Also, with its subject, a plea for compassion that can never go amiss, however the film ends up finding its audience.

| Mar 22, 2024

Even if many a plot point feels mechanical, Boyce and Sharrock get away with it for one overriding reason: the star wattage coming off Ward is once-per-generation stuff.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 22, 2024

When the film is off the pitch it frequently sings, and the relationship between Mal and Vinny is especially tender. But the football sequences that dominate the final act are lethally dull.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 21, 2024

Even when you can practically hear the film’s formulaic gear-shifting, it’s hard not to be won over, not least by the real-life backstory guiding its less authentic fiction.

| Mar 21, 2024

A very good moral, of course, but the tropes are a bit familiar.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 21, 2024