The Way Back
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: March 6, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
10
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonMar 6, 2020
Director and co-writer/producer Gavin O’Connor’s meticulous drama feels authentic all the way around. The basketball feels real. The high school kids seem real. Jack’s relationship with his estranged wife Angela (Janina Gavankar) is very believable. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 5, 2020
Taken on its own terms, the film is beautifully crafted, a sequence of events, many of them stirring, along a road to redemption that intersects with a winning group of high-school kids on a losing basketball team. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranMar 5, 2020
Muscularly directed by Gavin O’Connor, whose facility with emotional dramas with sports connections goes as far back as 2004’s Miracle, The Way Back is elevated and transformed by one of Ben Affleck’s strongest and most convincing performances. Read full review
85
TheWrapTodd GilchristMar 4, 2020
O’Connor’s work here behind the camera is equal to Affleck’s in front of it, as the two of them navigate this character’s complex minefield of shortcomings both earned and adopted, never letting him off the hook but attempting to explore and understand how and why these destructive patterns of behavior settle into rhythm. Read full review
83
The PlaylistAsher LubertoMar 5, 2020
A movie about deep regrets, taking them head-on, forgiving oneself and more, The Way Back, on paper, has so much potential for clichés about demons in a bottle. Instead, and triumphantly earned, this affecting path to redemption is a piercing portrait of man and actor who, when the clock’s winding down, can drain the shot that matters most. Read full review
83
The Film StageJake Kring-SchreifelsMar 4, 2020
The Way Back shares those convictions and themes, but its greatest asset is its honesty. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubCharles BramescoMar 4, 2020
Between the known metatext and Affleck’s bone-deep commitment, this moving central performance largely purges the film of its high potential for the maudlin. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekMar 6, 2020
The Way Back has an indescribable something that’s missing from so many modern movies. It’s filled with emotional textures, most notably the serrated edge of shame. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMar 4, 2020
Affleck gives the impression of intimate familiarity with the anguish and self-disgust that dominate Jack’s life; this character and project clearly meant something important to him, as the title bluntly suggests, and he gives it his all without overdoing the melodrama. Read full review
80
IGNWitney SeiboldMar 4, 2020
The Way Back is a somber sports drama more interested in exploring the plight of its hero than in just the big games. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedMar 6, 2020
The plot may be formulaic, but there’s nothing predictable about Ben Affleck’s commitment to the role of Jack, or the subtlety and sincerity with which he plays it. Read full review
75
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiMar 6, 2020
Here’s what’s smart about director Gavin O’Connor’s film: Although a lot of movies about addiction fixate on the agonizing and physically punishing withdrawal process, this one doesn’t. Read full review
75
ConsequenceBlake GobleMar 6, 2020
Even if the message is clear, and the vibe can be a little movie-of-the-week, The Way Back does find an interesting set of ways to present itself. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 6, 2020
Despite narrative issues, the film is overall affecting and effective with Ben Affleck’s powerful performance being a driving force. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyMar 6, 2020
This is what movies can do, at their best, draw you out of yourself in spite of yourself. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittMar 5, 2020
The best thing O’Connor does here, as he also did with the underrated “The Accountant,” is let Affleck remind us once again that he’s a first-class actor – just in case anyone forgot after his brief stint in an infamous cape and cowl. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattMar 4, 2020
Affleck keeps the movie anchored with his rumpled, unshowy performance: a man killing himself to live, until he can start to believe that maybe there's a better way. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMar 4, 2020
Winning and losing are relative terms, but this is the first time in forever that Affleck feels like he’s got skin in the game. Read full review
70
The AtlanticDavid SimsMar 11, 2020
Affleck communicates all of the movie’s emotional breakthroughs via little choices—an angry swipe at an empty beer can when he’s being pressed on his drinking, or slowly curling into a ball when he admits the extent of his problem. It’s the kind of subtlety I’ve never seen Affleck demonstrate as a performer. The fact that he brings his real-life battles to the movie may be uncomfortable for some viewers, but the actor insists he approached the role carefully. Read full review
70
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiMar 6, 2020
Despite its formulaic nature and its somewhat predictable beats, The Way Back extends beyond the typical sports drama by acknowledging the fantasy of it all: that one basketball game triumph becomes the easy solution to his problems that Jack is dreaming of. The road to recovery is hard work, and as The Way Back reveals, the work is never over. Read full review
70
VoxAlissa WilkinsonMar 6, 2020
Movies like this one are just looking for an audience with whom they’ll resonate. And the seriousness of The Way Back — its unwillingness to take the easy road, and Affleck’s total commitment to letting his personal rawness inform performed pain — should ensure those audiences find what they’re looking for. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonMar 4, 2020
Often in sports, teams run the same plays over and over again, simply because they work. That’s true of The Way Back as well: We appreciate the expert skill, even if we know almost every move by heart. Read full review
67
UproxxVince ManciniMar 26, 2020
In The Way Back, Gavin O’Connor has made another reasonably entertaining sports movie. Read full review
67
Original-CinJim SlotekMar 5, 2020
Let it be known that The Way Back – in which Ben Affleck plays a drunk who once walked away from basketball glory and is offered a chance at redemption when his old coach has a heart attack – is possibly the most melancholy sports movie ever made. Read full review
65
Vanity FairRichard LawsonMar 4, 2020
With The Way Back, O’Connor works so hard to avoid sports movie cliché that he pares the film down to something unsustainably lean. Without Affleck’s gravity, The Way Back would just drift away. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 6, 2020
With The Way Back, Ben Affleck didn’t have to deliver his biggest or most attention-getting performance, simply — and simplicity is hard — his truest. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Johanna SchnellerMar 6, 2020
It’s a solid effort. There are guts here, just not quite enough glory. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonMar 6, 2020
The film makes the path to basketball glory and the road to personal redemption seem oddly effortless. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenMar 5, 2020
Affleck, who has struggled in real life with alcoholism and has been in and out of rehab on a number of occasions over the years, makes his character’s pain palpable and totally believable. Read full review
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