The Heart of the Game (2005)

86% of critics liked it
(96 reviews)
50% of users liked it
(23,880 ratings)

Bill Resler was a professor at the University of Washington who had possessed a passionate interest in basketball. Resler decided to put his love of the game to work when he heard that Seattle's Roosevelt High School needed a coach for their women's basketball team. Despite having almost no… More Bill Resler was a professor at the University of Washington who had possessed a passionate interest in basketball. Resler decided to put his love of the game to work when he heard that Seattle's Roosevelt High School needed a coach for their women's basketball team. Despite having almost no experience as a coach, Resler landed the job, and soon began making a difference with the team, firing his players up with enthusiasm and encouraging them to think of themselves not as girl basketball players, but as athletes. Resler's coaching helped to turn a team that usually sat near the bottom of the rankings into serious contenders for a district championship, and produced at least one star player, point guard Darnella Russell. Russell is a gifted player who hopes she can turn her talent on the court into a college scholarship, since her family can't afford to send her on their own dime, but Russell also has a sharp tongue and a short temper that has earned her a reputation as a disciplinary problem. When Russell becomes pregnant, she finds herself fighting to remain in school, and to hold on to her eligibility to play on the team in the future. The Heart of the Game is a documentary which examines Bill Resler's fight to rebuild the women's basketball program at Roosevelt and Russell's battle to stay in the game. The Heart of the Game earned an enthusiastic reception following its screenings at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 33 min.
Directed By: Ward Serrell, Ward Serrill
Genres: Documentary, Sports & Fitness, Special Interest

In Theaters: Jun 11, 2005 Wide
On DVD: Feb 27, 2007
Studio: Miramax Films

Critic Reviews

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine
Girls have hoop dreams too. And dreams can come true at the final buzzer.
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
[The film] covers seven years and touches on some of the same social issues that gave Hoop Dreams its epic sweep, yet Serrill fails to treat any of them adequately, and the narrative loses its shape as events unfold.
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Emotional, uplifting, vexing and infuriating, it's the first basketball documentary worthy of being compared to 1994's Hoop Dreams.
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News
Sketchy as it can be at times, The Heart of the Game keeps us involved.
Michael Booth, Denver Post
An exhausting and thoroughly entertaining tale of race, fair play, loyalty, pregnancy and the true spirit of amateur athletics.
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle
Its squeak-and-sweat athleticism, its tough, bruised, big-hearted players and its electrifying championship countdowns should appeal to anyone who loves the game.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
Writer/director Ward Serrill's wonderful documentary, about a Seattle high school girls basketball team the Roughriders coached by the inspiring Bill Resler, is a "Hoop Dreams" of the early 21st century.
Helene A Aasen, Film4
So many astonishing and inspirational events take place that if The Heart Of The Game wasn't such a great documentary, it could have and should have been a box office hit drama.
Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media
Excellent high school sports documentary.
Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope
A nice little documentary that proves that nice guys, and nice girls, don't always finish last.
Joe Lozito, Big Picture Big Sound
It doesn't seem appropriate to call it luck, but somehow Mr. Serrill ends up with a story that would make any Hollywood sports movie proud.
Ryan Cracknell, Calgary Movies
Serrill does a good job of grounding the film with the conventions to suck you in and make the team likeable. But then the politics and real stories emerge, which makes the film truly stand apart from the crowd.
Kam Williams, EURWeb
Ludacris narrates this Hoop Dreams-inspired documentary about a female basketball phenom with WNBA Dreams.
Kam Williams, BlackFilm.com
Might best be thought of as a female version Hoop Dreams.
Jeffrey Chen, Window to the Movies
A true sports lover's delight.
Nick Funnell, Time Out
The intrusive narration, from hip hopper Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, offers little sense of real lives unfolding, more of a way being paved to an, admittedly tense, all-American triumph-over-adversity climax.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
Boredom and irritation set in early with this shallow, parochial and blandly celebratory documentary about a US high-school girls' basketball team, of frankly limited interest to non-US audiences.
Stella Papamichael, BBC
It's packed with left-field twists and turns and culminates in a genuinely nail-biting match where old rivalries come to a head. In the end, it's all you can do not to stand up and cheer.
Patrick Peters, Empire Magazine
It shifts focus too often to hang together as an in-depth portrait of either the unconventional coach or his headstrong star player.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Leigh R

GO ROUGHRIDERS!!! Russell has the courage that everyone should have. Fight for your dreams...make it happen no matter what. Bravo to Resler for making it happen and believing in "his girls".
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]The one trap that a sports documentary should never fall into is to rely on the cliche of the big game that plagues their fictional counterparts. Remember, a documentary should provide information and give the audience food for thought before attempting to… More
[font=Century Gothic]The one trap that a sports documentary should never fall into is to rely on the cliche of the big game that plagues their fictional counterparts. Remember, a documentary should provide information and give the audience food for thought before attempting to entertain the audience.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Take the pleasing documentary, "The Heart of the Game," for instance, which is about Bill Resler, a tax professor at the University of Washington who is hired to be the girls' basketball coach at Roosevelt High School. In his first year, through his innovative and unique methods, he coaches the team to the State Championships.(He is also maybe the most understanding coach in history.) In his second, talented but underachieving Darnellia Russell joins the team.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Documentarian Ward Serrill gets the ending he wanted but not quite the afterword. What troubles me most is that the viewer may have been manipulated into having a rooting interest for Roosevelt High School, even though there is an equally compelling story at rival Garfield High School.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Regretfully, the documentary only scratches the surface of the history of women's athletics. Any player may dream of going pro but that's what it mostly is, just a dream. The reality should be to concentrate on a player-athlete's education, getting her a scholarship to a university where she can continue her education and better her life.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]And is Seattle really that segregated? [/font]

Cast

            Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Narrator

            Darnellia Russell
            
            Bill Resler
            
            Devon Crosby-Helms
            
            Meghan Miller
            
            Jade White
            
            Lindsey Wilson
            
            Mike "Riderman" Silva
            
            Hillary Seidel
            
            James White
            
            Jack Aaron
            
            Mona Mendoza
            
            Keasha Beard
            
            April Swafford
            
            Maude Lepley
            
            Joyce Walker
            
            Joel Waters
            
            Marjorie Russell
            
            Jerry Ronk
            
            Shannon Costello
            
            Jenny Wild
            
            Alex Jessup
            
            Emiko Harris
            
            Leondrae Morris
            
            Betty Harris
            
            Urika Russell
            
            Leyla Khastou
            
            Tracey Leddo
            
            Secoy Clemmons
            
            Trekayla Clemmons
            
            Kenyon Luce
            
            Malia O'Neil
            
            Mike Colbrese
            
            Kelli Cutright
            
            Mackenzie Argens as The Roughriders

            Molly Boyd as The Roughriders

            Colleen Bresee-Woods as The Roughriders

            Alex Capelotto as The Roughriders

            Jen Cheun Bouddy as The Roughriders

            Korleana Davico as The Roughriders

            Ariel Evans as The Roughriders

            Alaina Forbes as The Roughriders

            Breianna Gaines as The Roughriders

            Tammy Hartung as The Roughriders

            Johanna Hase as The Roughriders

            Mattie Hesch as The Roughriders

            Corry Holme as The Roughriders

            Libby Jansen as The Roughriders

            Kimmy Kirkwood as The Roughriders

            Jamie McIntyre as The Roughriders

            Laura Mohler as The Roughriders

            Colleen Mori as The Roughriders

            Anne Moxon as The Roughriders

            Betsey Neel as The Roughriders

            Angela Nefcy as The Roughriders

            Monica Nelson as The Roughriders

            Piper Nims as The Roughriders

            Rachel Nord as The Roughriders

            Amanda Ostrom as The Roughriders

            Morgan Patterson as The Roughriders

            J'Nai Pich as The Roughriders

            Erin Pursell as The Roughriders

            Allison Reiman as The Roughriders

            Anna Sarff as The Roughriders

            Maggie Torrance as The Roughriders

            Amber Warren as The Roughriders

            Jamila Bates as The Bulldogs

            Kaneshia Brooks as The Bulldogs

            Delaney Conway as The Bulldogs

            Nicole Higgins as The Bulldogs

            Anna Johnsen as The Bulldogs

            Laura Kanter as The Bulldogs

            Jazmyne Kendrick as The Bulldogs

            Ashley Knight as The Bulldogs

            Briana Lewis as The Bulldogs

            Ashley Mitchell as The Bulldogs

            Neal Natasha as The Bulldogs

            Mitia Oliver as The Bulldogs

            Lacale Pringle-Buchanan as The Bulldogs

            Kanika Rogers as The Bulldogs

            Brenia Sherrod as The Bulldogs

            Tashara Simpson as The Bulldogs

            Tashara Ticeson as The Bulldogs

            Samantha Tinned as The Bulldogs

            Jessica Tinned as The Bulldogs

            Quanitta Underwood as The Bulldogs

            Laura Washington as The Bulldogs

            Chanieka Williams as The Bulldogs

            Robyn Williams as The Bulldogs

            Emily Watson
            
            David Scully
            
See full cast