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Parents' Guide to

'83

By Stefan Pape, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

Inspiring underdog sports biopic has racism, smoking.

Movie NR 2021 162 minutes
'83 movie poster

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 7+

Based on 1 parent review

age 7+

Amazing

The movie is about how Kapil Dev coaches the Indian cricket team into being superstars.

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (1 ):

This sporting drama, based on actual events, is a film that you'll have seen many times before, just in different guises. '83 follows the conventional sports-movie format, thriving in its celebration of the underdog. While it's incredibly familiar, it's comfortingly so, as a film that's very easy to sit back and enjoy. It is, however, far too long (not far off three hours), and as such becomes repetitive in its narrative structure.

Each and every passing game has the same dramatic conflicts. Will India defy the odds and do the unthinkable? Then they win, thus doing the unthinkable. Then comes the next round and the same questions are posed again -- and it's always the same answer. From a pedantic viewpoint, the period details are disappointing, as it doesn't truly feel like you're in 1980s London. The film is also overtly patriotic, almost nauseatingly so. But ultimately '83 is a film where what you see is what you get. It's uplifting, and has its charm, and by the end you're fully invested.

Movie Details

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