- 9
...a genuine crowd-pleaser, a rousing and inspirational flowers-in-the-junkyard fable of hope and possibility in grim circumstances.
—Andrew O'Hehir Salon
- 8
While Undefeated travels well-tilled inspirational ground, it's also an irresistible story of football, faith and the lust for happily-ever-after black-and-white endings.
—Manohla Dargis New York Times
- 8
...enjoyably upbeat...
—Joe Leydon Variety
- 8
I wish the directors had emphasized more of the players' personal lives apart from the football field. But, in the end, this is a documentary about Courtney and the transformative powers of caring. He works wonders on his players and they reciprocate.
—Peter Rainer Christian Science Monitor
- 8
...creates a fully rounded portrait of a corner of America rarely examined.
—Claudia Puig USA Today
- 8
It's impossible not to root for these guys, or to leave Undefeated without feeling enormously moved by the experience of their joys and disappointments.
—David Rooney Hollywood Reporter
- 8
...eally an examination not of how games are won and lost but how lives are lived, how young people faced with daunting challenges come to see, often in the most dramatic fashion, what is important going forward and what is not.
—Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times
- 8
For a documentary that's almost engineered to lift your heart, Undefeated is very well done.
—Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly
- 7
It's common for coaches to take roles as father figures on a high-school and college level, but Undefeated gets into how that dynamic works on both ends, as Courtney seeks to salve the pain of his family history.
—Scott Tobias Onion AV Club
- 6
What sets Undefeated apart from the usual underdog sports story is how the filmmakers emphasize the importance of mentorship as something separate from on-the-field interactions between coach and player.
—Glenn Heath Jr. Slant Magazine
- 4
Honestly, Courtney and his crew all seem like nice people, but if there's an unironic audience for this kind of romantic jock-cup fondling, I'm not interested in knowing it.
—Michael Atkinson Village Voice
- 3
This indie documentary is egregiously Hollywood in spirit. That a take-charge white football coach can buck up a place like Manassas HS with some gridiron grit is a lie we want to believe.
—Kyle Smith New York Post