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The Flying Scotsman (2007)

tomatometer

49

Average Rating: 5.5/10
Reviews Counted: 53
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 27

The Flying Scotsman's too-brisk pacing reduces the scale of cyclist Graham Obree's accomplishments while not uncovering what makes him tick.

67

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 4

The Flying Scotsman's too-brisk pacing reduces the scale of cyclist Graham Obree's accomplishments while not uncovering what makes him tick.

audience

50

liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 82,603

My Rating

Movie Info

An amateur Scottish cyclist determined to become the world's fastest rider struggles against his own mental illness and the resentful hostility of sports authorities unwilling to accept his remarkable innovation in this inspirational biopic from director Douglas MacKinnon. When Briton cyclist Chris Boardman took home the gold at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, the world was caught off guard; no one had ever suspected that Britain was capable of producing world-class cyclists, yet there was no

PG-13, 1 hr. 43 min.

Drama

Simon Rose, Declan Hughes, John Brown

Sep 18, 2007

$78.3k

MGM

Cast

All Critics (56) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (27) | DVD (4)

It's an underdog story with teeth.

August 22, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Post | Comment
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Never quite manages to whip its disparate story elements into an emotionally moving whole.

May 14, 2007 Comment
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A classic tale of the heroic little guy that goes beyond the sport of cycling, told with elegant restraint in this sensitive and beautifully rendered film.

May 4, 2007 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
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For all its dramatic manipulation, The Flying Scotsman succeeds, in a modest way, because it's true.

May 4, 2007 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
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The filmmaking is unremarkable, but the obsessiveness of the lead character is infectious enough to make this drama passable entertainment.

May 4, 2007 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Tells a tale both fast and moving. And when Miller as Obree takes his whirls around the track, it gets your heart pumping and your blood up.

May 4, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | Comment
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Cycling drama doesn't quite race to the finish.

October 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Business-as-usual for a sports movie.

September 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | Comment
Antagony & Ecstasy

Competently made and reasonably interesting, but The Flying Scotsman lacks the kind of exhilaration that inspirational true-life sport films generally need to carry them to cinematic gold

August 11, 2007 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

It is a straightforward biography but it treads so gingerly around his mental troubles that you feel something is missing.

June 29, 2007 Full Review Source: This is London | Comment
This is London

Why pay to see someone cycling when they do it on the pavement for nothing?

June 29, 2007 Full Review Source: thelondonpaper | Comment
thelondonpaper

It moves, but it never flies.

June 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Independent | Comment
Independent

It's stirring stuff from start to finish which will make our friends from north of the border proud to be Scottish. Go See.

June 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Sun Online | Comment
Sun Online

The underdog plot has been done umpteen times before, of course, but there's something Miller brings to the screen that transcends the familiarity.

June 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | Comment
Daily Mirror [UK]

A paucity of pedal power and an abundance of cliché make this Jock-on-a-bike yarn an uphill climb from false start to weak finish. Miller's brooding hero may well be Flying, but the film never gets off the ground.

June 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

Still, there's useful support from Brian Cox as a pep-talking priest, and Gavin Finney's long-take velodrome cinematography is frequently rather excellent.

June 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | Comment
Daily Telegraph

The sinking Scotsman is more like it.

June 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

What cripples the film's success as a sporting movie is the fact that its director, Douglas Mackinnon, struggles to find a way of making the climactic cycle races interesting.

June 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Times [UK] | Comment
Times [UK]
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Flying Scotsman

I remember watching Graeme Obree breaking the world record in the early 90's and subsequently reading about his hand made bike in the papers. It's a great underdog story of passion, determination and perseverance through adversity. It is shame then that it has been made into what is essentially, an underwhelming film

March 4, 2011
SirPant

Super Reviewer

I normally avoid sports films because they're very predictable and essentially all the same; let's face it, if they'd f**ked it up, nobody would've made a film about them. The story of Graeme Obree however, is quite an interesting one. A former bicycle courier from a working class Scottish town, Obree went on to become

May 13, 2007
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

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