The Express (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:110
Fresh:68
Rotten:42
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: This inspirational sports biopic set in the the civil rights era is interesting even for non-football fans, and features a great performance by Dennis Quaid as tough-but-fair football coach.
Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $9,589,875
Synopsis: As the first African American to receive college football's prestigious Heisman trophy, Ernie Davis (Rob Brown) is one of the most inspiring--and tragic--figures in the game (he died of leukemia at... [More]
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Rob Brown, Omar Benson Miller, Clancy Brown
Director: Gary Fleder
Reviews for The Express
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 2.5/4 |
It makes the most of its on-the-field drama, but it tends toward gross generalizations and oversentimentality. ... As a result, the film is burdened with hokiness. Full Review |
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B |
The movie also has its heart in the right place and it is as earnest as it can be. It simply falls short of being a great movie. Full Review |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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 2.5/5 |
At times The Express couldn't decide whether it was telling a story of racial tensions, a general inspirational sports film or the tragic biography of Ernie Davis Full Review |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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2.0/5 |
The Express is running on two rails at the same time. There's sentiment, which is true. And there's sentimentality, which is not. At its best, The Express is a moving tribute; at its worst, it's conventional manipulation. Full Review |
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75/100 |
While there's nothing remarkable about the way director Gary Fleder has brought The Express to the screen, this is a solid film that does justice to Davis' legacy. Full Review |
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3/5 |
While never as trailblazing as its subject, The Express is a worthy addition to the lengthy canon of sports biopics. Full Review |
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3/6 |
The sports-movie template is capable of absorbing any story and delivering the same uplift. Full Review |
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3/5 |
A fine example of the form. Cliched and sentimental it might be, but in the case of The Express, these criticisms almost count as plus points. Full Review |
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2/5 |
Full of stirring speeches and manly chins quivering with emotion, every frame is a cliché. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Gary Fleder's sporting drama has its heart in the right place but, sheesh, that title grows more ironic with each crawling minute. Full Review |
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3/5 |
A tidal wave of corn syrup hardly mars this old-style, populist entertainment. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Fact-based or fictional, no genre sticks to the playbook more rigidly than the sports drama. Creditable addition to the canon though it is, The Express does not buck the trend. Full Review |
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Steams ahead with express-train determination, scooping on to its cow-catcher any cinemagoer hoping he can outrun yet another true-life drama about black sportsmen overcoming bygone bigotry. Full Review |
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1/5 |
The screenplay is stewed in such pieties, served up as warm and homely as apple pie – only there's no taste to it. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Entertaining drama biopic that marshals its collection of sports biopic cliches to winning effect, aided by superb performances from Dennis Quaid and Rob Brown. Full Review |
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4/10 |
No film that's 129 minutes long should be called The Express - how about The Sleeper To Oblivion? Full Review |
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2/4 |
There's nothing daring in the least about The Express, which, like most real-life sports stories co-opted by Hollywood, strips the achievements of any individuality or historical worth and renders them all part of the same gumbo of sticky cliches. Full Review |
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Rob Brown did a nice job. Full Review |
CommentLatest News for The Express
January 17, 2009:
If the best thing said about a football movie, oddly enough, is that it can be entertaining for anyone who could care less about sports, then this is a solid touchdown. Skeptical couch potatoes take heart, a knowledge of the game is rarely required. 
More...
January 13, 2009:
If the best thing said about a football movie, oddly enough, is that it can be entertaining for anyone who could care less about sports, then this is a solid touchdown. Skeptical couch potatoes take heart, a knowledge of the game is rarely required.
More...
October 11, 2008:
A fine addition to the recent genre of socially-conscious sports flicks highlighting individual feats for the collective meaning of those historic triumphs to the masses of black folks in search of civil rights.
More...
October 09, 2008:
Critics Consensus: Express Scores, Body of Lies Falls Flat
This week at the movies, we've got suspicious spies (Body of Lies, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe), gridiron greats (The Express, starring Rob Brown and Dennis... More...
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