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National Champions

National Champions

Drama · 2021

A star quarterback ignites a players’ strike hours before the biggest game of the year in order to fight for fair compensation, equality, and respect for the athletes who put their bodies and health on the line for their schools.

Movie details

National Champions

“How much is one player worth in an $18 billion game?”

2021 Drama 1h 56m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

A star quarterback ignites a players’ strike hours before the biggest game of the year in order to fight for fair compensation, equality, and respect for the athletes who put their bodies and health on the line for their schools.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over National Champions?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Hungry Hearts

Hungry Hearts

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The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

Pimp

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Drama · 2018

An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and girlfriend Nikki.

Trafficked

Trafficked

Drama · 2017

In this story inspired by real characters, three girls from America, Nigeria and India are trafficked through an elaborate global network and enslaved in a Texas brothel, and must together attempt a daring escape to reclaim their freedom.

Cheaters

Cheaters

Drama · 2000

In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.

Around the Bend

Around the Bend

Drama · 2004

A tale of four generations of men, all of whom have had their offspring at a young age: a great-grandfather, a grandfather, a father in his twenties and a son who is about 7 years old. When the oldest member passes away, the trio heads out on the road together in the Southwest to search out an old family secret that connects to their past.

I.D.

I.D.

Crime · 1995

Four policemen go undercover and infiltrate a gang of football hooligans hoping to route out their leaders. For one of the four, the line between 'job' and 'yob' becomes more unclear as time passes . . .

Suburbia

Suburbia

Drama · 1984

When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.

Lockdown

Lockdown

Drama · 2000

Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and end up in prison.

Mexicali

Mexicali

Action · 2026

A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Ric Roman Waugh

Written by

Adam Mervis

Stephan James

Stephan James

LeMarcus James

J.K. Simmons

J.K. Simmons

Coach James Lazor

Alexander Ludwig

Alexander Ludwig

Emmett Sunday

Lil Rel Howery

Lil Rel Howery

Coach Dunn

Tim Blake Nelson

Tim Blake Nelson

Rodger Cummings

Andrew Bachelor

Andrew Bachelor

Taylor Sheridan

David Koechner

David Koechner

Richard Everly

Court is in session

Put National Champions on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.