Rating: PG
Genre: Sports & Recreati
Release Date: 03/22/2005
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1/DD2
Run Time: 170 min
Distributor/Studio: Hart Sharp Video

Directed by Paul Doyle Jr., The Boston Red Sox Movie is a feature-length baseball documentary revolving around the relationship between the Sox and their fans. Known for being particularly loyal, the Bostonian watchers of the 2003 baseball season and its ups and downs -- ups being the Red Sox vying to win the World Series, downs being their ultimate loss to the New York Yankees -- showed an incredible emotional investment in their team. Through backstage footage and a variety of fan interviews, this unique rapport between the Red Sox and Red Sox loyalists is given a proper showcase.

~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

When the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, it impacted the cinema in at least two ways: first, it prompted Peter and Bobby Farrelly to junk the original ending for their deep-in-production Sox-themed romantic comedy, Fever Pitch; second, it turned Still, We Believe: The Boston Red Sox Movie into a footnote. One year too early, director Paul Doyle Jr. and company seem to have taken their inspiration from nothing more than the Sox' ridiculous assemblage of talent, wanting to be the first film crew on scene when the franchise finally hoisted the trophy that had famously eluded it. The crapshoot was not wasted as the team staged improbable comebacks in two postseason series before falling short in epic fashion, a dream outcome for a documentarist. But the missed opportunity comes in the filmmakers' choice of what to do with the portion of the film they could control. The diehards they choose to follow show occasional flashes of charisma, particularly the gloom-and-doomer known as Angry Bill, but not enough to justify such a slow trudge through the baseball season that pushes the film to almost two hours. The behind-the-scenes, offsetting footage of the team does elevate the curiosity quotient. But a crucial third element might have been a Ken Burns-style history lesson to put the fans' urgency in context. That might have earned Still, We Believe consideration as the definitive Sox movie suggested by the title, and possibly a theatrical release outside the farther reaches of New England.

~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

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