Goal! The Dream Begins Critic Reviews

Goal! hits the back of the net and is an early candidate for the funnest movie of the summer.Read the full review

The movie works because it is, above all, sincere. It's not sports by the numbers. The starring performance by Kuno Becker is convincing and dimensional and we begin to care for him.Read the full review

How much viewers care about what happens in Goal! is directly proportionate to how much they care about soccer, because decent execution aside, there's an underdog fantasy movie just like this one for every sport.Read the full review

The film is capably acted and somewhat inspiring.Read the full review

A slickly mounted slice of can-do nonsense.Read the full review

The cast, all around, is sterling. There's only one thing they don't need to bring back for the sequels, and that's the movie's appetite for every sports cliché there ever was.Read the full review

The trouble with Goal!, which -- horror of horrors -- is the first of a trilogy, is that it's neither a persuasive story nor a satisfying display of soccer.Read the full review

As the clichés mount, Danny Cannon directs as if he's the one on trial, teasing tension out of every pass and dribble. Most irritating of all is his determination to paint British soccer as a gentleman's game, a notion United's real fans would no doubt treat with the scorn it deserves.Read the full review