National Champions

As a 116 mins long sports drama, I was expecting to see at least one game. But instead it was scenes in and out of hotel rooms with some soap-opera melodramatics and twists. I will say though, this did feel very real, and I'm curious if this story was conceived as a slap in the face to college football et al. The performances by all were excellent and captivating, especially J. K. Simmons, and the only reason I sat through the entire film. The ending was underwhelming, and I never did get to see any game, but the film was still unique and well put together. This may not be for everyone, especially if you don't follow college football or sports in general. It's a generous 7/10 from me.

Nothing is inevitable except the truth.

A fictionalized version on an interesting topic in the college football scene. The movie showed what a boycott against the NCAA on the issue of treating student athletes as employees would look like.

The first great thing about the movie was J. K. Simmons. Previously he was a ruthless music coach, and now he's an old, broken college football coach with the desire of winning the national championship with his team. He again brought passion and energy to his role. His dialogues were powerful, and can be emotional too. He can be both fearsome and convincing. What an amazing actor.

The story itself was amazing as well. It's an intense stabbing back and forth between the brave college football quarterback and the administration. Each tried or was forced to bring the other down. It became personal very quickly, and I was on board for most of it.

Overall, a gripping sport drama. 8-8.5/10.

This is what you'd call a dialogue movie, and not half bad. The main gripes I have are wasting Jeffrey Donovan's talents, the horrid acting of the main character "LeMarcus", and the insanely bad overemotional acting on the black woman who was some sort of fixer. Each time someone questioned her she'd freak out, just waaaay overboard. JK Simmons as usual excellent performance wasn't enough to make up for this lady.

''The NCAA doesn't pay its student athletes despite earning billions of dollars off our hard work every year'' - (Lamarcus James) With only 72 hours before the NCAA National Football Championship game, Lamarcus James, super star quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner, decides to boycott the game. Lamarcus, along with his wide receiver and best friend Emmet Sunday, announces on TV that they will not play in the big game to protest student athletes not receiving any compensation (pay) from the NCAA. They ask other players to join them and ignite a player's strike until all student-athletes are fairly compensated.

So now with with sponsors threatening to pull out, (literally billions of dollars at stake) the Power Brokers take over (NCAA & SEC) and bring in their ''Fixer''(Uzo Aduba) to handle Lamarcus and fix everything.

The Fixer surprises Lamarcus with a very sincere and passionate speech and we suddenly see a totally different side to the ''compensation'' for student athletes. Now, with only hours until kickoff, will Lamarcus have a change of heart?

Really, football is not the main theme, we never really see any actual football being played. Should College athletes receive a salary? ... well that is what this movie is about and the movie plays out more like a political statement then I would have liked to have seen.

Now all politics aside, there are good performances in this movie. What a Incredible performance by Uzo Aduba, and J. K. Simmons, Tim Blake Nelson, Jeffrey Donovan, Kristin Chenoweth, and Timothy Olyphant.

I have no idea how they paid so many great actors to be in this. The plot is slow moving. The pivotal moment of information doesn't really make sense. It's a lazy writer trying to make money off a very controversial topic.