43
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 63TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxYes it's as corny as Kansas in August, but this admittedly formulaic sports drama is base on a true story and has something important to say about the fate of many small Midwestern American towns whose popular sports teams fall victim to school consolidation.
- 60L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyFormulaic but not cynical, The Final Season has some sweet, thoughtful passages in what is otherwise just one more well-meaning inspirational sports movie.
- 58Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerSeattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerThere are too many unearned runs to fully embrace this underdog triumph.
- 50VarietyVarietyThere's not quite as much corn in The Final Season as there is in the Iowa farm fields that run through it, but it's close.
- 50ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliEvans' goal is to do for high school baseball what "Hoosiers" did for high school basketball, but to mention both titles in one sentence is almost an insult to a picture that many rank as the first or second all-time sports film.
- 50Washington PostWashington PostNathan Wang's score borrows blatantly from "The Natural" and is slathered on thick in all the big emotional scenes. They establish the right nostalgic mood, but it's broken with that loud "ping" of a metal bat every time a kid gets a hit.
- 50Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesChicago ReaderJ.R. JonesThis takes place in the same sort of pathologically sports-obsessed hamlet as "Friday Night Lights," though in contrast to that movie's grim honesty there's enough heartland schmaltz here to embarrass John Mellencamp. Remarkably, the movie rights itself once the actual season begins, focusing on game strategy more than the usual heart-stopping pep talks.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttPoor writing, an indifferent production and sincere but often wooden acting make "Season" one big strikeout.
- Viewers who don’t flee the intrusively uplifting soundtrack and choking sentiment get just what that opening promised: a by-the-numbers, based-in-reality inspirational sports movie, thick with overwhelming pride and nostalgia for small-town farmland America.
- 11Austin ChronicleAustin ChronicleKind of "Hoosiers": Part 2. But the storytelling is so backassward that it’s impossible to care about any of the characters or really engage in the movie whatsoever.