Underdogs (2013)

Underdogs is a low key, slow burn underwhelming drama that just about sustains your interest.D B Sweeney is a veteran football coach newly arrived at a struggling High School in Ohio.Logan Huffman is the team's quarterback who is drawn to the cheerleader of the rival high school football team which leads to rivalry with her boyfriend who is the quarterback for that High School.The interesting part of the film and this is based on true facts is that the Huffman's father is the inventor of the EdenPURE space heater and has to defend his invention from his former employer. The former employer is also the dad of the rival high school's quarterback.The film is rather contrived and low key, there is enough spin put on it to make it viewable but it never rises above than just being average thanks to the space heater side plot because it never passes muster as a sports movie.

This was a good idea on paper. The terrible acting completely sabotaged this film. When the movie started I had high hopes. Underdog sports movies kick ass. I was hoping for an Invincible/The Little Giants/The Blind Side feel good movie. What I was left with was a disappointment I haven't felt since the student film I did in college. Only that had better acting. I stopped paying attention at some point. What a bummer.On a side note, the two stars are for Natalie Imbruglia. Solid talent there.

Terrible movie with some bad acting. Mrs Burkett was terrible and stuttering dad was unbelievable. Turns out to be an ad for suarez's eden pure heaters. Good local flair and commentating by the local whbc sports reporter but not enough to make it worth the matinée price or the 1hr 45mins. of my time that I can't get back. The best I can say about the movie is that quality filming was present. Doesn't look low budget.My children and spouse graduated from Aquinas and they were embarrassed to see their school in this movie.Movie is predictable and takes part of the local storyline into the movie. Those that worked at the Hoover company lived the working part of the story.Save your time and if your local wait for the DVD release, should be in about 2 weeks.

I just saw this film yesterday at the Cleveland International Film Festival. I must say, I was very impressed.The overall cinematography is in line with most modern day multi-million dollar Hollywood productions, even though this was produced as an independent film and shot in less than a month in Stark County, Ohio. It's amazing to see how far film makers can go when they actually have talent and aren't relying on a bloated budget and over-hyped marketing campaign. UNDERDOGS shines in that the shots themselves are well composed and can, at times, even evoke emotion.The actors and actresses all performed extremely well. Though this is a family-oriented film, there wasn't a lot of "cheesy" moments or poor acting typically associated with those types of films. The characters themselves are very memorable and you could almost hear the audience praising the heroes and booing the villains as the film went on. There is enough humor sprinkled throughout to keep it from becoming too serious.Though this was primarily a football movie, I found it quite engaging even though I didn't understand a lot of the football jargon. The parallel plot of an employee fighting against his greedy employer really helps drive home the whole spirit of being an underdog, which most people can really relate to.Overall, fun and enjoyable film and highly recommended!