5 Best Sports Movies With a Perfect (or Almost Perfect) RT Score

With several recent and successful additions like Challengers or The Iron Claw, the sports movie genre doesn’t really go out of style, no matter what other types of films are swirling the theatres worldwide this year or that.

Just like everything in cinema, sports flicks can be a disappointing bunch of clichés that other movies keep trying to debunk, but some are still a solid watch proved by an impressive critical score.

Despite only three movies like this reaching a wow score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, a couple of others also came too close to the perfect rating and ended up having a little less perfect one.

The Endless Summer (1966) — 100% RT

Bruce Brown’s documentary was a hit so grand in the 1960s that it was quick to turn into a cultural phenomenon paving the way for the “surf-and-travel” movement.

The movie follows two real-life surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August who, challenged by wintery cold ocean currents in their native California, embark on a surf journey travelling to the coasts of Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa.

Despite being a documentary, The Endless Summer is a more casual story of two surfers who traveled across the world to introduce some locals to their favorite sport.

Changing the Game (2019) — 100% RT

Directed by Michael Barnett, Changing the Game is, well, a game-changer in the world of sports as it follows three high school athletes from across the US who share the perception of their identity as transgender.

Though the storyline goes out to all three main characters at a time, the movie itself focuses more on Mack Beggs, a Texas State Champion in girls wrestling who competed in the race as a boy.

Changing the Game follows Mack’s hardships on his way to sports achievements and recognition of who he is in a fight against the Texas State policy and the media’s toxic attention.

Next Goal Wins (2014) — 100% RT

Another documentary with an impressive critical response, Next Goal Wins follows the members of the national team of American Samoa as they try to prove their status of one of the weakest football teams in the entire world wrong, training hard to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Things might change with the arrival of Dutch coach Thomas Rongen who embarks on a mission to turn the team into world winners after a series of major failures on the field.

The Wrestler (2008) — 99% RT

Darren Aronofsky’s sports drama, starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood follows Rourke’s Robin Ramzinski, a professional wrestler who tries his best to not let his prime go away as his career is slowly going down after skyrocketing back in the 1980s.

With some health issues along the way, Robin is determined to not leave the ring for a while now until his financial situation gets better; simultaneously, he tries to navigate through complicated relationships with his estranged daughter and suddenly falls in love with a woman working as a stripper.

The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki (2016) — 98% RT

Directed by Juho Kuosmanen, the movie is based on real-life events and follows a major career downfall of Olli Mäki, the famous Finnish boxer who, to everyone’s shock, lost the fight at the 1962 World Featherweight title.

Regarded as one of the most successful amateurs-turned-professionals in the world of boxing, Olli was actually never aiming at getting that world fame in the first place; additionally, he wasn’t that determined to get the title either, as the championship took place right after Olli had suddenly and very seriously fallen in love.