Synopsis
A former basketball all-star, who has lost his wife and family foundation in a struggle with addiction, attempts to regain his soul and salvation by becoming the coach of a disparate ethnically mixed high school basketball team at his alma mater.
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Cast
- Ben AffleckJack Cunningham
- Al MadrigalDan
- Michaela WatkinsBeth
- Janina GavankarAngela
- Glynn TurmanDoc
- Melvin GreggMarcus Parrish
- Brandon WilsonBrandon Durrett
- Will RoppKenny Dawes
- Fernando Luis VegaSam Garcia
- Charles Lott, Jr.Chubbs Hendricks
Recommendations
- 83
The A.V. Club
Between the known metatext and Affleck’s bone-deep commitment, this moving central performance largely purges the film of its high potential for the maudlin. - 83
The Film Stage
The Way Back shares those convictions and themes, but its greatest asset is its honesty. - 80
IGN
The Way Back is a somber sports drama more interested in exploring the plight of its hero than in just the big games. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
Affleck gives the impression of intimate familiarity with the anguish and self-disgust that dominate Jack’s life; this character and project clearly meant something important to him, as the title bluntly suggests, and he gives it his all without overdoing the melodrama. - 75
IndieWire
Winning and losing are relative terms, but this is the first time in forever that Affleck feels like he’s got skin in the game. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
Affleck keeps the movie anchored with his rumpled, unshowy performance: a man killing himself to live, until he can start to believe that maybe there's a better way. - 70
Screen Daily
Often in sports, teams run the same plays over and over again, simply because they work. That’s true of The Way Back as well: We appreciate the expert skill, even if we know almost every move by heart. - 60
The New York Times
The movie withholds a crucial bit of back story in early scenes only to drop it like an anvil later on. Since the revelation is known to the characters the whole time, the decision to deploy it as a surprise is cheap and shameless — a blatant foul in a movie otherwise filled with smoothly executed plays.
