Over winter break this year, you may have heard a thing or two about the brand new NFL movie American Underdog. Released on Christmas Day, American Underdog is the story about Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner’s unlikely journey into the NFL. The movie is directed by Andrew and John Erwin. The movie stars Zachary Levi, Anna Paquin, and Dennis Quaid.

Kurt Warner (Zachary Levi) has always wanted to be an NFL quarterback since he was a child. As the movie starts with him as a kid watching Super Bowl 19 and while watching the game he makes a promise to himself that he will be a Super Bowl quarterback. Fast forward a few years and Kurt is playing as a 5th year senior at Northern Iowa trying to put up stats good enough to get drafted, which midway through the season is actually a realistic possibility. However, draft day comes and nobody selects him. Kurt does get a tryout with the Packers but he blows it.

With no option, Kurt moves in with his girlfriend he met at college, Brenda (Anna Paquin), and he starts to work as a grocery stocker at Hy-Vee. Good things come through when Jim Foster, part of the arena league, offers him a position at Quarterback for the Iowa Barnstormers. Kurt excels in the Arena league, as the game is much different from regular football, and it works to his advantage. Also, life for him is great off the field as well, Brenda and him get married.

Kurt’s success in the Arena League gets him a shot with the St. Louis Rams of the NFL. After lots of hard work throughout training camp, Kurt avoids getting cut and makes the team as the Rams backup quarterback, this is due to in large part Rams head coach Dick Vermeil (Dennis Quaid) believing in Kurt. Right at the beginning of the regular season, Kurt gets the opportunity he’s been waiting for, as starting quarterback Trent Green suffers a season-ending injury and Kurt is now the starter.

Kurt ends up having a storybook year as the Rams starting quarterback, as he leads them to the Super Bowl. In the Super Bowl, Kurt’s success continues as not only does he fulfill his childhood wish of being a super bowl quarterback, but he’s also a Super Bowl winning quarterback. He gets named as the Super Bowl MVP and Regular season league MVP as well.

I really liked the movie and I think if you are an NFL fan like me you will end up loving the movie as well. However, if you aren’t an NFL fan, you will enjoy the movie, as it is satisfying to watch his perseverance through all these obstacles and still come up on top. In my opinion, the movie gives a great message of never giving up on your dreams and always pushing forward. The movie also has a good Rotten Tomatoes score, as the critics gave it a 73% and the audience gave it a 98%. If I had to give it a rating I would probably give a high score as well, probably about a 9/10.