If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Enjoyed the movie but for purist there were many factual inaccuracies. Syracuse did not play Boston College in 1959. The West Virginia game in which WV and their fans are portrayed as very racist was played in Syracuse not Morganton. In the Texas game of that year the score was never 15-14. There are others but that suffices. When a description is "based" on a true story it means not everything is necessarily true. Remember that as one videographer told me, "we are artists and entertainers and not historians!"

** This comment may contain spoilers** The Express is a very inspirational story about a man, Ernie Davis, who strives to be the best football player he can and ultimately become the first black Heisman trophy winner. One of the main themes in the film is racism. We see blacks struggle to become an acceptable part of society. Ernie Davis has a dream to become the next Chris Brown, one of the best running backs for the Cleveland Browns. Once he was recruited to the Syracuse Orangemen, his journey for the Heisman trophy begins. I find this movie to be a very motivational film that sends a message out about racism. It shows that if you continue to follow your dreams no matter how many hardships and obstacles you come across, you can achieve anything. Ernie Davis tried to prove a point during the movie and play for the African Americans all over who were watching. The movie has an amazing, true story plot that makes the film very appealing to the viewers. Ernie Davis will always be remembered as the first African American to win the Heisman trophy and make a big difference in college football.

Even though I knew absolutely nothing about Ernie Davis, the tragic young hero of this biopic, as I watched this film the suspicion that I was watching one of those largely fictionalised accounts that typifies the kind of biopics Hollywood churned out in its golden age kept growing with each predictable emotional peak and plot twist. A quick scan of some of the comments on the film's message board quickly confirmed those suspicions.Chronological impossibilities aside, this film could have easily been made in the 30s or 40s. Ernie Davis - and every other black character in this film - is filled with a kind of pious nobility that set them apart from most white characters in the film - apart from those insightful enough (such as gruff old coach Burgess Meredith, erm, Jon Voight - no, Samuel L. Jackson… Gene Hackman? Dennis Quaid!) to see the boy's football talent (but not his uniqueness as an individual) . The whites in this film are blindly racist West Virginians or gung-ho jocks or wise-cracking sports reporters. Everything is black and white, you might say.The film's well-made, the acting is good (especially Rob Brown as Davis), and there's no doubting the sincerity of the writers or the source material. But by following conventional biopic story lines and blatantly distorting certain incidents and situations in order to make a 'better' film, the makers severely dilute its impact and bring into question every aspect, thus making it unreliable as a 'true story.' It might also perhaps have been wiser to finish the film after Syracuse's victory over Texas at the Rose Bowl, with titles to inform the viewer of Davis's winning of the Heisman Trophy and the illness that cruelly cut short his life, rather than continuing another half-an-hour after its emotional and inspirational peak.

The movie is great because the true story is so great; I read the orange book, "The Elmira Express." It succeeds in showing the relationships between Ernie, his family, his coach, best friend, and girlfriend but it fails to portray a dynamic Ernie and "rest of the team" relationship. These guys won a National Championship back in 1959 and there was no team chemistry, the football didn't mean as much because you did not know the team when you were watching them. Ernie's personal drama was done great but we miss the team achievement of the Championship. Its a great drama but not a great football movie.Bob Cullen's name is Robert CullenT on IMDb.com. Look at the credits, Bob Cullen, Petey #69. He had both big hits in the west virginia game for crying out loud! The first on the kickoff return and the other, the last big block on the play Ernie reverses field. Bob nailed the "tackle over," scene too. You gotta get his name right, IMDb!