He returns to his high school to coach the team, but this isn't a story aimed at teens. Parents need to know that The Way Back is a sports drama starring Ben Affleck as Jack Cunningham, a one-time high school basketball phenom who struggles with alcoholism as an adult. There are lots of similar sports movies like “The Way Back“. Now streaming on: Powered by JustWatch. It has mature themes of substance abuse, marital separation, family strife, loss, terminal illness, and redemption. Tweet. The Way Back, then is going to be less a film about winning championships and Big Games, and more about the delicate process of recovery from addiction. The Way, Way Back movie reviews & Metacritic score: Over the course of a summer, 14-year-old Duncan comes into his own thanks in part to the friendship he strikes … Ben Affleck gives a strong performance which feels very personal to him. The Way Back is a quietly competent and engaging drama that will appeal to viewers even if they don't enjoy basketball. The Way Back is a gratifying sports movie that is made better than the average by some sadness, some realism, and Ben Affleck's performance.

This element heightens the film even more, it has a lot of things that you would find in the sports genre such as: Motivational scenes which make you feel good and make you want to support the characters. The finale is open-ended and hopeful, but has a true to life feel to it. March 5, 2020 3:38 pm ET There’s plenty of action in “The Way Back,” and seething hostility that explodes into rage. The Way Back seems like the most appropriate vehicle for Affleck now, as he fights his way back out of what seems like some serious darkness in his own life. Give me "The Bad News Bears." The Way Back is a movie that is quite enjoyable especially if you are a fan of sports movies and love basketball. A fellow critic and I talked about this once, and he said "Any story about fathers and sons gets to me." It stars Ben Affleck, Al Madrigal, Michaela Watkins and Janina Gavankar. I’m surprised you could keep him out of the barlong enough to hold practice. Give me "The … The Way Back is now playing in U.S. theaters. The Way Back is one of the better films to be released in the early part of 2020, and hopefully it (particularly Affleck's performance) isn't forgotten later in the year when awards season starts. The Way Back may also be pointing to an effective way forward for faith-based films. The Way Back effectively shows how redemption and recovery can be a slow, but in the end, cathartic process.

But if you’re expecting a hard-edged, cheer-worthy comeback story, well, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. But O’Connor pulls back so much at so many moments that there’s not a great deal he can really squeeze out of his character, who like everyone else in the film feels sorely underwritten.