This is a great little movie with a lot of heart that should have gotten more notice. Sam Rockwell is great and continues to prove he's one of the best actors of his generation. Basically, it's about a guy coaching a high school girl's basketball team. A movie doesn't need to have a bunch of effects or explosions or twists to be great. This is an example of a solid, realistic script and wonderful actors coming together to make something that deserves to be seen. If a movie can make me laugh, cry and think, it's one I want to see again and again. You owe it to yourself to give this film a try. There aren't many movies about women's basketball, and I'm glad they took a realistic approach instead of the typical teenage fare.

The Winning Season IS an enjoyable film because of some fine acting and its' feel-good tone, but I feel a bit uneasy about how the film handled some of the tough subject matter.Sam Rockwell plays a once successful High School basketball coach who gets an offer from an old friend(now principal) to take a coaching job. When he finds out it's coaching girls varsity he is hesitant, but figures that it's better than bus-ing tables at the local five and dime.Sam's interaction with the girls and the teams' progress is the strongest characteristic of this film. It isn't until the film dives headfirst into some pretty tough subject matter that it gets a bit derailed. Sam struggles with alcohol, and while the film approaches this subplot with good intentions - in the end it makes the viewer feel a bit uncomfortable about the whole situation. In 'Hoosiers' Dennis Hopper played a similar role - only his role was as an assistant, and he ended up listening to the final game from a hospital bed(a far more realistic fate). Here, Sam is just as bad of an alcoholic, but he interacts with the girls while drinking(on many occasions), and the film somehow tries to spin the whole thing into a positive(which quite honestly - does not work) The same goes for a sexual orientation subplot that never gains much steam anyway. The film has good intentions here as well, but doesn't ever really develop this subplot. It left me wondering why they even brought it up. Unfortunately, we don't get much closure on the lesbian/alcoholism themes. The filmmakers here could have left out the sexual orientation stuff(I'm only saying that if you're going to include it - conclude it!).Thankfully, the girls and Sam Rockwell are great in this movie. The moral is 'winning isn't everything'. I enjoyed the movie, but feel like it could have been even better. Marginally recommended, but don't be fooled as this film is definitely for the 13+ age bracket.You'll like this if you liked: WHip It, Hoosiers, Wildcats, or Glory Road.54/100Late EDIT - Of Course some will respond negatively just because I didn't like the way the film tackled the tough subject matter. It doesn't make me homophobic or insensitive.

THE WINNING SEASON – CATCH IT ( B ) The Winning Season is one of those Independent movies, which try to cover all the Clichés of Independent Cinema. In this movie we will see all the typical Clichés, A Loser Dad (Check), Father, Daughter Broken relationship (Check), Racist (Check), Gays (Check), Handicaps (Check), Teen Romance, where Boy is Callous (Check), Teen Girl falling for older man (Check), Drunk Coach (Check) and above all Quirky comedy with Wanna be Realistic ending (Where they Lost the Game & still happy because they come so far)Duhhh. So, after checking all these Cliché you can see what this movie is about "Dealing with every effing issue ever existed in Independent movies at Once". Sam Rockwell, Margo Martindale, Emma Roberts, Rooney Mara, Conner Paolo & all others were good. So, besides saying all this I won't say it was a bad movie, I think it was pretty engaging because every second something was happening so you don't get bore. Rent it on DVD & enjoy (Don't buy) it will work great on lazy morning.

Kind of Garden State with Basketball, a sneaky lowball story of a loser coach's shot of redemption with a girls' basketball team, the Lady Chargers, that is both very funny and also kind of effective on the drama front.Everyone creates a low-fi vibe and just runs with it, small town values - we loved the comedy is in the small touches - and the timing - much of the comedy comes from the everyday conversations but just rings true.If you like sports movies with a little more than just training and victory dances then this fits the bill well - it's well done at every step...