How sad is this?

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I guess this movie didn't aim to perfectly accurately portray the sport of bowling, but seriously, it could've done a lot better. I did like the school scenes, as they're totally on the spot. Students just don't see bowling as a sport anymore. After watching the bowling scenes, I'm thinking "no wonder competitive bowling gets so little acknowledgment! This movie is totally unrealistic!" Instead of giving in to demands from young people, they should be marketing bowling at its most professional level, to draw people in THAT direction, and not vice versa. That's the only way to make seriously bowlers, which will do a lot of good for this declining sport. If they had shown that bowling takes a lot of finesse and skill, and endurance and consistency, then maybe those schoolkids would accept it more from the beginning. Instead all it talks about is modernizing, and making it "fun". Putting laser lights and fog machines and loud music undermines the integrity of "real" bowling. I sure wouldn't go there!

SOME SPOILERS! This movie is about learning to understand--even accept--other peoples' point of view and working together for a common cause regardless of any remaining differences. As the movie progresses different examples of how to do this are shown, such as Alex going to a party by Todd's friends that he wouldn't normally attend, accompanying Todd to get decorations for the bowling hall, and getting a truce between his team members and Todd for the remaining days until the contest. Todd rallies his friends to revive the bowling hall. Alex and his friends learn to have a positive, winning attitude, and Todd learns about style and playing for fun without the pressure to win at all costs, and yielding to a better performer when it counts. One great example that might get overlooked occurs about twenty minutes from the beginning: in the bowling hall Todd mentions the rumour that Alex got his clothes in the alley behind the hall. Instead of getting mad, Alex handles this with humor, poking even more fun at himself, saying he got them from a <catalog> he found in the alley, and Todd's "Whatever..." shows he gets the humor, and the confrontation is defused, rather than escalating. Reality check: it's true that this only works if the accuser accepts the humor, but when it works you can feel the reduction in tension. As Dexter says in "The Cure" (ties for #1 with "On Golden Pond" in my list), "It's worth a try."

This movie was really good. I especially liked the fact that there was so much team effort and spirit in the movie. That gives people a good idea as to how one should play on a team with people they don't know very well. It was pretty funny too!

The movie the Alley Cats Strike, is a made for t.v. movie on the Disney channel. Now, some of you may be saying why is a 16 yr old girl watching things on the Disney channel. Besides the reason that I'm a kid at heart I honestly think they have good entertainment for the young and old. This movie starts off about these retro teens and there love for bowling, and leads into having them plus the "golden child" of there town defending the "Mighty Apple" trophy from there arch rivals. It's such a cute movie and a great cast, I really loved it and I recommend this to anyone that loves good movies!