Good, not great. If you follow and read about basketball, (and especially if you talk to some black guys that played D1) the majority of this film presents nothing new or informative.And while Gates's journey was interesting because of his brother,talent level,injury, and thoughtfulness, the completely immature Arthur Aghee was almost boring,especially since he had virtually zero chance of making it.The documentary also could have been at least half an hour shorter and lost nothing.

I can see that it's well made but I just frankly don't give a shit.

Ultimately all I really want to do is make documentaries, but this one makes me feel like an ant. Its scope is huge. If it was a fictional film, we'd brush it off as cliched and point to certain developments as being a bit "convenient", but it's all real. It's an amazing film that highlights universal problems, and it's about a lot more than just basketball. Definitely one of the most moving experiences I've had watching a film.

Just, wow. I love how all manner of questions are raised throughout, but it's a natural process of the story, since the filmmakers neither raise nor attempt to answer them. There's barely even any narration. We're left to draw our own conclusions. The story is endlessly fascinating.

I could watch this for 24 hours and not get bored or lose interest. Immensely absorbing story where not just the NBA hopefuls but the supporting acts (Curtis especially), play a crucial role in the documentary's overall message. A must see.

Absorbing and Multi-layered. Where ever u r in ur life, its going to raise some serious questions and change perceptions - what a good documentary should be doing.

Uh, wow. Damn. That was pretty amazing. By about the thirty-minute mark I just couldn't take my eyes off the screen. By the time it ends you feel like you've been there with the Agee and Gates family for as long as the documentarians were. It's often heart-breaking and occasionally inspiring. It is one of the best looks at urban poverty, about life in the ghetto and the hope for a dream come true. It's so much more than just a basketball documentary.

Watching the struggles of these two high-school basketball players and their families is very captivating. Spending 3 hours following their growth is better than any fictional sports story.

Wonderful documentary that reveals an awful lot not just about inner city dreams, but also about the families and coaches that help create a system where child athletes are a commodity. Filled with bittersweet moments and compelling subjects the 3 hour runtime flies by.

So good at showing us the lives of these people that every minor victory excites us and every defeat wrecks us. Genius in how it manages to cover so much ground on inner-city life, the flawed sports scholarship system, and the human spirit. Sheila Agee is one of those incredibly inspiring people who never gives up, and her personal victories are the most moving parts of the whole film. Recommended for absolutely everyone.

This was just as amazing as I hoped it would be, and expected it to be. I love stories and fairy tales and whatnot, but there's nothing like a real tale from the real world. This isn't a big redemptive story where everything fades to white and they all live on in eternal happiness at the end, nor is it some sort of overdone tragedy. It's a slice of life. A pretty big slice, mind you -- maybe a whole cake of life. And it's so much more universal than just being about basketball.

It took years to finally get hold of a copy but the wait was worth every minute. Ostensibly a sports movie, it explores all of the influences around the boys and gives time to the many characters, from crackhead dads to unsympathetic coaches, who both help to create and hinder the titular dreams. A great editing job means there's real drama and tension throughout, with the viewer never certain about what's going to happen next. Documentary making doesn't get much better than this.

No fictional sports movie has a story this good. A critique of America, capitalism, the family (particularly fathers), & sports. The film compels you to think about the gargantuan struggles some people face that more privileged do not, which struggles are self-inflicted, & which are engendered by an uncaring, inefficient, & occasionally hostile system. It also makes us aware of the role of chance in our lives%u2013a freak injury or an unpaid school bill can have unforeseen consequences down the

A truly fascinating picture of what it means to follow a dream. Does a great job of building a compelling storyline for each of the two kids and their separate paths.

Serves as a cautionary tale. Meaning, don't put all your eggs in one basket. It's important to chase your dreams but Curtis was the culmination of a washed up, pathetic loser who did just that and failed then had nothing to show for it. School is important! Fascinating stuff. My only complaint is poor narration, otherwise this is almost perfect.

OK, well meaning, but its actually boring. No idea of pace, not much beyond these two kids' own, bigger maybe, version of the struggles everyone goes through trying to come out of being a teenager with something defined for your life.

Gives us everything you could possibly ask from a sports film.

3 hours sums up an anthropological journey through two young American teenagers who struggle for success despite their crumbling origin - parents on welfare, dad on crack, teenage pregnancy, indifferent school system - by doing what they love; Basketball. The riveting basketball sequences actually made me want to watch basketball.

What an impressive and, frankly, ambitiously epic documentary. The sporting journey is compelling enough, but the family dynamics fill this out wonderfully. Paying close attention to the cut points is especially rewarding -- the parallel stories offering such a rich contrast, as do the jumps between raucous sporting events to the muted triumphs/tragedies of everyday life.

A real-life drama that has a lot to say about youth, ambition, and the American dream. It's a parable about goals and dreams, told on a personal level but entirely universal and relatable. We learn to care for these people early on so their decisions and situations have weight, and we grow with them as the movie progresses. The film never stops being engaging or enjoyable, which is a feat in itself for a 3 hour documentary. It feels light, but it's dense with thought-provoking content.

Hoop Dreams is both thoroughly engrossing and thematically complex in a way that resonates long after the film is over.