The best sports movies aren’t just about sports. Take the recent movie of the day Rocky for example, it’s about working class pride, about love, and about overcoming adversity, so it’s more than just a boxing movie. And the same goes for The long gamebecause while it’s an encouraging underdog story set around the sport of golf, it’s also about some of the toxic attitudes that prevailed in the 1950s.
An uplifting sports film based on a true story
The long game is based on the true story of five Mexican-American high school students who were banned from playing golf by an all-white Texas country club in the 1950s. They refused to take no for an answer, built their own course, formed their own team, and became state champions.
If Variety said: “Winner of an Audience Award at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival, The long game is a completely predictable, yet very engaging costume drama.” It is “told in an attractive way with sincerity and taste,” says RogerEbert.comWhile the Hollywood outsider says that “The long game is an emotional crowd pleaser”.
While few critics criticized the film’s core, many felt the film could have been more focused: Collider said that “while the book this film is based on, Mustang wonder by Humberto G. Garcia, certainly documents an impressive story of an underdog overcoming adversity, the film doesn’t quite reach the heights it tries to reach… It juggles too many things and ultimately drops the ball.” While the film tackles racism head-on, “it struggles to find balance and nuance along the way.”
The result is “a gently stirring family drama”, The Hollywood Reporter says. It “could have used more topspin, but (it’s) a winning round nonetheless,” which is why it’s on our list of the best Netflix movies.