The Heart of the Game (2005)
Woody Creek Productions

Description

Go courtside for a true-life rush like no other in this passionate and inspirational documentary in the same powerful tradition as Hoop Dreams. Director Ward Serrill brings the camera up close and personal to capture the Roosevelt Roughriders girls' basketball team during six turbulent seasons, taking us far beyond the court. You'll meet Bill Resler, the tax professor turned hard-driving unorthodox coach who turns the team around - and Darnellia Russell, the talented inner-city tough girl who battles off-court threats to regain eligibility. You'll meet a real team full of drive, toughness and the unbridled desire to make history.

Tags

basketball

Collected reviews and ratings

9.5 DVD Verdict | Brendan Babish

I watched The Heart of the Game late at night, by myself, but was still jumping off the couch and pumping my fist. I usually don't even do that for live sporting events. This is one great movie.
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9.2 Entertainment Weekly | Scott Brown

... the film is a furious full-court press, its subjects aflame with the kind of passion only youth can furnish. Even their bruises are luminous.
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9.2 digitallyobsessed.com | Dan Heaton

The Heart of the Game does conclude with "the big game" between Roosevelt and their rival Garfield, but the ultimate result is not the key factor. Instead, Darnellia Russell's chance to even compete at this level again provides great inspiration.
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9.0 Amazon user reviews

Edge of your seat excitement, real emotion, real people and the coach (Bill Resler) steals the show. You can't help but be touched by the story, and you'll also be laughing out loud too.
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8.3 The Onion A.V. Club | Scott Tobias

What he loses in complexity he gains in momentum and uplift: The Heart Of The Game leans on a highlight reel full of dramatic do-or-die situations and some of the most outlandish motivational gimmicks this side of late-night infomercials.
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8.0 Los Angeles Times | Kevin Crust

Bill Resler, an exuberant University of Washington tax law professor turned girls' high school basketball coach, would have been a good subject for a documentary all on his own. That a 14-year-old phenom named Darnellia Russell walked into his gym one day is one of those fortuitous twists that makes for a terrific documentary.
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8.0 Washington Post

The chronicle of a charismatic first-time basketball coach who takes a girls high school team from ragtag obscurity to the state championships, the documentary "The Heart of the Game" combines nonstop action with an absorbing story to become a classic on a par with "Hoosiers" and "Hoop Dreams".
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8.0 DVD Talk | Phil Bacharach

A straightforward telling of a modest but extraordinary story in the world of high school athletics, The Heart of the Game is an uplifting, involving tale that transcends its subject matter.
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7.5 TV Guide | Ken Fox

More than a lighter, distaff version of Hoop Dreams, Ward Serrill's documentary about a never-say-die girls' high-school basketball team has been seven years in the making.
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7.5 Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

It doesn't matter that the acclaimed Hoop Dreams played the same game. There's no denying the exuberant energy and emotional force of this movie. It gets to you.
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7.0 Variety | Joe Leydon

Docu's second half gradually attains the shape and suspense of artfully designed drama as the focus expands to include Darnellia Russell, an extraordinarily gifted player who's one of the few African-Americans on largely white team.
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7.0 New York Times | Manohla Dargis

The hoop dreams of the teenage girls in the documentary "The Heart of the Game" are fairly straightforward if a wee bit intense.
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6.0 filmcritic.com | Chris Cabin

Serrill never digs deep enough or goes for the grandeur of Hoop Dreams, but why try to copy? The Heart of the Game has its own priorities and they speak loudly, in similar tones as James’ film.
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