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Movies / On DVD / Forever Strong
Forever Strong

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Forever Strong (2008)

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Reviews Counted:18

Fresh:6

Rotten:12

Average Rating:4.7/10

Rated: Not Rated

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Sep 26, 2008 Limited

Box Office: $549,351

Synopsis: Rick Penning (Sean Faris, Never Back Down) lives life just like he plays rugby; fast, hard-hitting and intense for a team coached by his overbearing father (Neal McDonough, Minority Report). When... Rick Penning (Sean Faris, Never Back Down) lives life just like he plays rugby; fast, hard-hitting and intense for a team coached by his overbearing father (Neal McDonough, Minority Report). When life on the edge lands him in jail, prison ward Marcus Tate (Sean Astin, The Lord of the Rings) offers him a chance to get back in the game by playing for his rival, Highland Rugby. Reluctantly Rick joins the team where he must adopt the grueling training schedule and unique honor code of conduct that Coach Gelwix (Gary Cole, Office Space) enforces, or finish out the season behind bars. Egos clash as bitter competitors struggle to become a team. An unlikely brotherhood is formed with his Highland teammates, just as Rick is released from jail and sent back home to rejoin his former team and former friends whose ringleader is Lars (Penn Badgely, Gossip Girl). Heading into a face-off with Highland at the National Championship, Rick is forced to choose where his loyalty lies. --© Crane Movie Company [More]

Starring: Gary Cole, Sean Faris, Arielle Kebbel, Julie Warner

Starring: Gary Cole, Sean Faris, Arielle Kebbel, Julie Warner, Sean Astin, Neal McDonough, Penn Badgley

Director: Ryan Little

Director: Ryan Little
Screenwriter: David Pliler
Producer: Adam Abel, Ryan Little
Composer: J. Bateman, Bart Hendrickson
Studio: Crane Movie Company

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Release:

May 26, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Based on actual events, Forever Strong is the story of a volunteer American rugby coach who creates not only championship teams, but championship boys. Forever Strong offers sports action, drama and the results of following a strong ethical code to achieve victory on and off the field.
  • Rick Penning (Sean Faris, Never Back Down) lives life just like he plays rugby; fast, hard-hitting and intense. When life on the edge lands him in jail, prison ward Marcus Tate (Sean Astin, The Lord of the Rings) offers him a chance to get back in the game by playing for his rival, Highland Rugby. Reluctantly Rick joins the team where he must adopt the grueling training schedule and unique code of conduct that Coach Gelwix (Gary Cole, Office Space) enforces, or finish out the season behind bars. Egos clash as bitter competitors struggle to become a team. An unlikely brotherhood is formed with his Highland teammates, just as Rick is released from jail and sent back home to rejoin his former team, coached by his overbearing father (Neal McDonough, Desperate Housewives). Heading into a face-off with Highland at the National Championship, Rick is forced to choose where his loyalty lies.
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    Reviews for Forever Strong

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    1 - 19 (sorted by date)
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    Uplifting jock drama is predictable but OK for older tweens.

    Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | comment Comment
    06/17/09
    Charles Cassady
    Charles Cassady
    Common Sense Media

    Created under the vague guise of "inspirational cinema," Strong is a sloppy, soggy pile of clichés, unable to sort itself out, grow a pair of cinematic cojones, and actually try to subvert some of its rancid formula.

    Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | comment Comment
    06/10/09
    Brian Orndorf
    Brian Orndorf
    DVDTalk.com

    The father-son relationship that bolts this rugby film together provides the textured backdrop for a sports film that engages

    Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
    04/18/09
    Andrew L. Urban
    Andrew L. Urban
    Urban Cinefile

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
    10/18/08
    Boston Globe
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
    N/R

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    10/18/08
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    This earnest indie production comes across like formulaic fiction while taking cues (and recycling cliches) from the 'inspirational sports drama' playbook.

    Full Review Source: Variety | comment 2 Comments
    09/29/08
    Joe Leydon
    Joe Leydon
    Variety
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    The very Tom Cruise-like Sean Faris makes this respectable portrayal noteworthy considering the gritty sport's irrelevancy to most Americans.

    Full Review Source: Spectrum (St. George, Utah) | comment 1 Comment
    09/27/08
    Bruce Bennett
    Bruce Bennett
    Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

    [Director Ryan] Little and cinematographer T.C. Christensen make you feel the heat in every scrum.

    Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment 1 Comment
    09/26/08
    Sean Means
    Sean Means
    Salt Lake Tribune

    There's something disheartening about seeing real-life stories and their inevitable complexities put through the Hollywood sausage machine and transformed into bland parables.

    Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment 1 Comment
    09/26/08
    Maitland McDonagh
    Maitland McDonagh
    TV Guide's Movie Guide

    It's definitely possible to make artful message movies -- just consider the filmography of ex-Mormon iconoclast Richard Dutcher -- but Forever Strong is generic faith-and-redemption fare, devoid of nuance.

    Full Review Source: AV Club | comment 2 Comments
    09/26/08
    Noel Murray
    Noel Murray
    AV Club

    As directed by Ryan Little and written by David Pliler, Forever Strong dredges up every sports movie cliché and stereotype ever invented. (Cue the slow-mo in the rain.)

    Full Review Source: New York Post | comment 1 Comment
    09/26/08
    V.A. Musetto
    V.A. Musetto
    New York Post
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    The movie is well shot and edited, the rugby scenes are enjoyable (if likely puzzling to the uninitiated) and Strong's earnestness excuses at least some of its predictability.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment 1 Comment
    09/26/08
    Michael Ordoña
    Michael Ordoña
    Los Angeles Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Gives the word "forgettable" a bad name.

    Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment 1 Comment
    09/26/08
    Steve Simels
    Steve Simels
    Boxoffice Magazine

    While it does boast some of the expected tropes and formulas of cinematic sports dramas, it's a competent, entertaining and involving movie that features a decent message about self-discipline and redemption.

    Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment 1 Comment
    09/25/08
    Jeff Vice
    Jeff Vice
    Deseret News, Salt Lake City

    The whole package here is warmed-over mush from a hundred other sports movies, a tale padded out with game footage, training sequences, absurd coincidences, life lessons that teach nothing and wasted casting.

    Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment 1 Comment
    09/24/08
    Roger Moore
    Roger Moore
    Orlando Sentinel

    Shares the secret sin of many a pigskin pic: Despite all the macho posturing, the corny story is just as sappy as anything on Lifetime.

    Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment 1 Comment
    09/24/08
    Adam Markovitz
    Adam Markovitz
    Entertainment Weekly
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    American rugby is the setting for this earnest sausage party of macho posturing, bro-dacious life lessons and value-focused sportsmanship that give wayward teens the strength to rise above sinful temptations.

    Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment 1 Comment
    09/24/08
    Stephen Garrett
    Stephen Garrett
    Time Out New York

    Though director Ryan Little puts together a clean, professional package, at bottom this is a nearly-two-hour scrum of therapeutic direct encounters.

    Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment 1 Comment
    09/24/08
    Nick Pinkerton
    Nick Pinkerton
    Village Voice
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Contrived corniness abounds.

    Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment 1 Comment
    09/22/08
    Nick Schager
    Nick Schager
    Lessons of Darkness
     
     
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