The Slaughter Rule

2002 "In life, every season counts."
5.9| 1h52m| en| More Info
Released: 11 January 2002 Released
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Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A young man finds solace with a young woman, his mother, and a high-school football coach who recruits him to quarterback a six-man team.

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Reviews

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever
Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
leonblackwood Review: Starring a young looking Ryan Gosling, Drive To Dream (The Slaughter Rule), is about a young inspiring American football player who gets cut from his team because his coach thinks that he hasn't got enough anger in his heart. With nothing to do in his small Montana town, he falls for a young girl who shows up at his dads funeral and he starts playing football for a man that he meets in a diner (David Morse). Whilst training with his new team, Roy Chutney (Gosling) starts to hear rumours about Gideon's (Morse) past which questions there close friendship. His relationship with Skyla (Clea Duvall) is also under pressure because she doesn't really feel love from the troubled teenager. After a few games on the road, the team doesn't really progress into anything special because they don't really gel together that well and there coach (Morse) has his own personal demons to deal with. I quite enjoyed this emotional drama which was made with a small budget, before Rosling became the mega-star that he is today. His distant acting style worked well with this role and David Morse was brilliant as his father figure/coach but it does seem like it was made for TV. Its always good to see these massive Hollywood stars older movies to see if they can actually act, which Gosling proved that he can. His style hasn't changed that much but he has covered many other genres since this film. Its a watchable movie which does have different elements to keep the movie interesting but it's very one toned without that much substance. Its worth a watch just to see Gosling at a young age but from a entertaining prospective, it's very average.Round-Up: This movie was made when Gosling, 34, had just starred in Remember the Titans, which was a small role and the Believer which didn't go down well with audiences. He really became a household name after starring in the Notebook, which became a worldwide hit. Since then, he has starred in some decent movies like Stay, Fracture, Half Nelson, Blue Valentine and Drive. He then turned to comedy in Crazy, Stupid Love, were he showed off his impressive abs and became the love of women all around the world and then he went back to his usual moody movies in the Place Beyond the Pines, Gangster Squad and the weird Only God Forgives. He has chosen to stay out of the limelight for a while but he will be coming back soon in movies like the Bladerunner remake, the Haunted Mansion, the Big Short starring Brad Pitt, Christian Bale and Steve Carrell and the Nice Guys with Russell Crowe. This film was directed by Alex & Andrew Smith who have only made a couple of shorts before making this small movie. They really did get the most out of Gosling & Morse in this emotional drama and you can tell that they relied on the script more than fancy shots and extravagant scenery. This isn't a feel good movie and there are some depressing scenes but the actors did give it there all and it's good to see how far Gosling has come.Budget: $500,000 Worldwide Gross: N/AI recommend this movie to people who are into their emotional dramas about a promising teenage football player who gets dropped from his team and plays in a small league in his town, with his father figure coach. 4/10
Rich Wright This is possibly the only time I can remember where the name of a film was changed for the UK market, and I approve. After all... DRIVE TO DREAM is much better than THE SLAUGHTER RULE, dontcha think? It stars a rather young Ryan Gosling and Amy Adams in an American football themed story, which is usually the sort of thing I turn my nose at... but as long as the film concentrates on the people rather than the intricacies of the sport, I don't really care.The most notable achievement here is in writing the coach as a believable ambiguously gay man which is no mean feat... check out the film My Brother The Devil for an example of this trope done wrong. His friendship with Goslings young hotshot (who is a bit unsure about his sexuality himself) is well done, and there are other minor triumphs of personality based conflicts throughout. A very modest work, but one which is worth your time... 6/10
cbjudy It must have been a bad night to try and watch this movie.Very different than I expected to say the least. My question doesn't have to go along with the main story but what was up with the mom? What was going on when Roy walked in her room and she was crying on the bed naked? Just ended with no endings for me which I find disturbing. Did I miss something with Skyla and Roy, were they to keep in touch or did she just leave. What happened with the Christmas trees and the step dad? Did two dogs end up leaving home for good? I have really enjoyed watching Ryan Goslin in movies thats why I chose this one tonight. I expected an action football movie and although not disappointed in the movie inself, just ended up confused. Any one else confused too?
Silence91 "The Slaughter Rule" is an interesting, moving study of male relationships, with the movie portraying how the limits of male bonding are tested through past and natural emotion. Ryan Gosling is deep and effective as a teenage jock who's life has seen it's rocky roads, and then he meets a quiet, mystifying older man who wants to recruit him for a six man football team. What Gosling doesn't know is about the Man's past, which turns out to test their growing relationship. It's an often slow but alluring tale, absorbing you in to the story of characters that are both familiar and alien, and ending up with an odd but truthful ending that pulls out all the raw, closeted emotions that the two men have for each other, and it's home-movie-style video shoot and beautiful country scenery brings it to life.