When the Game Stands Tall

the movie’s qualities are modest ones: It’s largely underplayed and hoorah-free, with head coach Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel) rarely raising his voice above a soft indoor murmur; it’s slick-looking—full of diffusion filters...

Michael Chiklis makes more of an impression as a more openly passionate assistant coach who is on the same morality page with his head coach.

...struggles to present faith as the opposite of smug, braying and obnoxious. That counts for a lot, especially in a Christian film landscape that tends to lean toward the latter...