Road to Victory

I saw this film with my entire family at the Village D-Cinema in Lisbon. Some scenes are tough to watch sitting next to parents. I liked how the movie didn't try to make the main character seem like Superman. He was just trying to be good at being a football player but it screwed up his life. I expected him to win the Superbowl in the end, but the movie had a very serious feel to it.

Given how important family was to the film, the end made the other scenes that were uncomfortable to watch because of sexual stuff worth it. The football scenes were also good, and the strip club scenes were cool too, but it would have been better to see more naked girls.

I talked about this film to my friends a lot afterward, and I think I liked the film even better once I'd had a chance to think about it some more. I am looking forward to seeing it again, and hopefully showing other people so I can hear their opinions.

Road to Victory is a wonderful debut from the multi- talented Mike Reilly. As sensitive as it is compelling, Reilly bravely tackles the subject of Erectile Dysfunction. Viewers everywhere will relate to this moving and human tale, and couples will find themselves squirming with recognition at some of the uglier scenes that take place between the protagonist and his girlfriend.

E.D. seems to be one of the last taboos amongst men, and seldom tackled on celluloid. To find such a young sufferer who exists within such a traditionally macho environment (he's a football player) adds a really compelling element to this story. Beautifully shot and acted, the film contains some of the most believable characters that I have seen on screen for a long time.

Finally a movie that looks at the true driving force that propels us on our crooked paths. The real life problems and realizations made by the lead character seem so obvious to us as we struggle with why he can not see the wall coming, that is until we reflect on the decisions and actions in our own pasts. How many walls and how much ignored advice along the way. This road is a road we have all taken, with the same mistakes made and with the same results. The story is honest to the core, it evolves with the character; as his view of what is of importance changes the story also changes to encompass these new ideas, in a tragic but true portrayal.

The use of football as the backdrop for this allegory adds to the importance of the characters future but takes nothing from the imagery of the whole. A sound concept to appeal to a larger audience that works to move the emotions and struggles of life at a frenetic pace. I think we have a winner here!

Just viewed this at the Silver Wave Film Festival in Fredericton, N.B. within the past week ! Man, this film has layer after layer of plot ... it is precisely the kind of film that one can undoubtedly view again and again and take something different away following each viewing. And, I know from others who attended the screening that empathy with the leading characters may vary by gender of the viewer with each being completely moved by the shear honesty of the film , albeit form differing perspectives. Road To Victory tells it like it is ... and it is the very kind of current and relative story that Needs to be told in an honest an exposed manner. It honors the Healing Power of Vulnerability !

This is such a good movie! OK, this has got to be the most realistic relationship movie I have ever seen. I kept changing my mind about the couple the entire way through the movie. Sometimes I liked them, and then I thought they were horrible, and I wanted them to break up, and then I wanted them to stay together but thought they would break up, and then the ending was so sad, but it had this note of hope to it. I did not like the strip club stuff. I hate the way women degrade themselves for money or power over men, but I know they do it, and in this case, it totally fit the main character, Anna, who I just wanted to shake some sense into!

The other main character, Elliot, made me cry a couple of times. I just wanted to be there for him, but in real life I probably would have been too scared because he was so strong, and even when he was quiet, you could tell how angry he was.

I hope I never have a relationship like this, where we're mean to each other because we too insecure to know what to say.

I think that a lot of young couples should see this movie.