Hollywood Reviews and Movie Trivia

"The Heart of the Game" captures the passion and energy of a Seattle high school girls' basketball team, the eccentricity of their unorthodox coach, and the incredible true story of one player's fight to play the game she loves and scores a B...

The key factor of a documentary that is chronicling a current, real time event is one really doesn't know what you'll get or how long it will take to complete. Director Ward Serrill, making his feature film debut, didn't plan on spending seven years with the Seattle Roosevelt High School girls basketball team called the Roughriders. As real time events developed, changing and adding to the basic premise he started out to follow, perseverance paid off. 7 years with the team is covered in a dynamic 106 minutes, which documents the changes in every single life of the team, the coach, and women's basketball...

Bill Resler is tax professor with a usual dark sense of humor, and a big challenge: turn the Roosevelt High School girls' basketball team into a winner. The girls on the basketball instantly get a feel for this new kind of coach. With mantras like "Draw blood. Have fun," are a sample of what Coach Resler says to his players before games and during timeouts. He uses nature themes as well. One season Coach Resler tells the Roughriders "Play like a pack of wolves", or; "You're a tropical storm, wreaking havoc". Resler is also animate on the finer points of basketball like physical play, tenacious defense, and out running the opponent.

One player who is mentored by Coach Resler is Darnellia Russell, a high school basketball-playing phenomenon with a lot of baggage and a lot of talent. By the end of the film, they're trusted friends. With the story of Darnellia Russell, the Roughriders' star player, interwoven throughout the documentary, a milieu of issues, and subplots involving race, fairness, gender, and loyalty to the team, make a very compelling true story. With Darnellia trying to finish school, dealing with single parenthood, and the right to play basketball, the real in 'being real' couldn't be more gripping.

"The Heart of the Game" also gives us a look at the difference between men and women's basketball. The Roughriders, as the cliché goes, leave it all on the court when they play. When they lose, the tears pouring out. When they win, you feel their elation! Capturing the true-life games and emotions draws one right into the lives of the documentary.

"The Heart of the Game" is narrated by Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, the Atlanta, Georgia rapper and actor who adds a sense of reality, not the traditional, polished 'readers' often used for documentaries. "The Heart of the Game" is a documentary with a lot of heart and soul, and it's a true story. How much more real can it get...

Grade B