Halle Berry Movie:

Editorial Review:
This is the movie blamed for encouraging college kids (and others) to lie down on the painted divider between lanes of highway traffic. (Incredibly, the studio pulled the film in its opening weeks and deleted the allegedly offending scene.) James Caan plays a football coach under tremendous pressure from his university's sports program to come up with a winning team. The story focuses on the fallout of that pressure on the lives of several players and the program itself. It's all rather flat and TV-movie-like, and because there is an emphasis on issues instead of characters, the actors work doubly hard to bring dimension to their stock roles. On the plus side, the cast is largely composed of young actors who have come a long way since the film's release. --Tom Keogh

The Program Reviews:
The Best!
2008-07-08 - Until the movie "Friday Night Lights" came out, this one was the greatest football movie of all time!

Unlike "Friday Night Lights", this movie is about corruption, drugs and last chances in college football programs!

One of the most memorable characters of all time "Steve Lattimer"!

If your a football fan and "The Program" slipped by you, check it out!!

By the book
2008-06-20 - Gee, a bad boy quarterback, meathead lineman, some girl who inspires a guy to do better with his life, and a not always ethical coach. The creativity of this sports drama knows absolutely no bounds. Looking for the infamous scene where the players lie in the middle of the highway.... sorry, they cut that out. What we're left with is a vapid sports drama that has nothing really new to say.

I will give it three stars for the fact that it's still pretty well exceuted, and the personality of the head coach in dealing with the players is entertaining to watch. I was entertained, which was all I wanted on a relaxed Sunday afternoon, but there is a lot better out there. Friday Night Lights was much more real and gritty, and Rudy much more inspriational.

A good build up to a disappointing finish...
2006-04-11 - This has to be categorized as a solid movie with strong performances from both old and young actors alike. There indeed were a wide variety of subplots in this movie but I felt that they generally helped the film to progress. The acting was solid, with great performances from Epps and Caan. The actor who played Alvin, the defensive superstar, ironically got his just desserts. I also think Halle Berry played her role very well, although her character almost made the movie unnecessarily messy. The character of Joe Kane was a bit stereotypical, the brash,young quarterback comes from a drunken and self destructive lineage. His daddy doesn't love him- boo hoo! There have indeed been better football movies in the past ten years; I could easily name a half dozen better films simply because this one seemed to lack an ending. I was a little confused why they did not show the infamous "bowl game" after talking about it the whole time. Perhaps the film had run too long.
I would have expected a sequel to come out had I not known any better.

Tries too hard, stumbles under pressure. No apologies.
2005-02-02 - Yeah, a football movie. But one to be admired? Nope. Is there lots of hard hitting action? Yep. But are there better? Uh-huh. This movie just tries too hard. And James Caan has had better performances, for example, "Brian's Song". As for Craig Sheffer, this isn't his best either. You could probably give the hot spot to Omar Epps just for his hard work to try to make mediocrity into something worth watching.

We have football movies with better quality than this. While I can watch this a few times, and laugh at some of the dumb humor, it just doesn't stand up. "The Program" has been since buried by good stuff, such as "Remember The Titans" and most recently "Friday Night Lights". It tried to match the standard of classics like "Brian's Song" and "Rudy". Most of the humor stacks up there with the likes of "Little Giants".

I think this also finds itself looking for originality. This stumbles under pressure, and tries way, way too hard! With quotes such as "PLACE AT THE TABLE!", you may be seated, but don't ask me for seconds after the indigestion. Keep looking for dinner. Oh, and no apologies either from myself!

Too Many Subplots, but still a Good Effort
2004-07-27 - If you're looking for a movie that will give you an overall feel on what behind the curtain NCAA college football is all about, this ain't the one. Unfortunately, there aren't too many out there. While I did find The Program somewhat entertaining, I thought that it tried to appeal to way too many *types* of viewers by convoluting any one clear and relevant plotline with a host of subplots.

At the beginning of this movie, you may be led to believe that the movie is going to be a sort of expose on the business that college athletics has become. We start out by seeing the college's well-planned attempt at trying to recruit a blue chip running-back (Omar Epps). James Cann is great as the 3-dimensional cool-headed coach, who understands that college football is big money (I like contrasting this to the mean sum'va'bitch coach that Jon Voight plays in Varsity Blues). This underscores the idea that education is a secondary concern to many university officials.

There are some great moments in the movie about NCAA corruption. Star linebackers take alumni bribes in the movie. Issues of steroid addiction and grade fixing are touched upon, but never examined to full capacity. Don't get me wrong, normally, I like my sports movies with plenty of sports, but I don't think that the proper set up was there for this to be called a solid 100% sports flick.

While the movie toys with the idea of being a sort of expose, it never quite gets off the ground. I think this is largely due to the fact that the makers of the film tried to rig it to appeal to too many different audiences.

For example, for the non-sports fans, there are 2 romantic subplots. One involving the moping pariah star QB, Joe Cain, and his passion for the girl who doesn't date jocks (touching...yawn). And yet, another involving Epp's and Halle's characters. For the sports diehards, there is the oh so very cliche big game with the classic slow motion play that always works. For the sentimental crowd there is another subplot involving Joe Kain's tobacco-roadish alcoholic father who never goes to see him play. There is, yet another subplot about Kain's rehab from eposodic alcoholism.

Like I said, normally I like my sports movies with plenty sports, but this movie frames itself up to deal with the "behind the scenes" issues and just doesn't come through. Yes, NCAA football is a dirty business. Shoot to kill! Who gives a damn whether Omar Epps and Joe Kane find true romance?

By the way, the guy who played Lattimer deserved an Oscar for best supporting actor!