What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Before watching The Program, I said to myself: "It's always the same. I think I'm not going to like a sports movie because I'm not interested in the sport in question, but I generally end up liking them because the sport is just an excuse to tell stories about internal strength and triumph over adversity". And, to a certain point, my prediction was true; however, I unfortunately didn't end up liking The Program very much. Don't misunderstand me. The Program is well acted and solidly directed by Stephen Frears, who keeps a sober point of view which doesn't judge Lance Armstrong for his bad ethic decisions, even though they aren't justified either; Frears just shows the facts with the talented vision which distinguishes his filmography (by the way, my favorite films of it so far are Dangerous Liaisons, High Fidelity and Dirty Pretty Things). Regarding the cast, Ben Foster brings a solid performance, playing Armstrong in a pragmatic and realistic way, while the rest of the cast also makes a good work, highlighting Chris O'Dowd and Guillaume Canet. So, why wasn't I left very satisfied by The Program? Because I didn't find the story particularly interesting. It might be so for the fans of cycling, but the facts are so simple and linear that they could have been told in 10 minutes of documentary footage. In other words, the story lacked the necessary "punch" in order to capture my emotions; or maybe, I was right from the beginning, and the problem was my ignorance regarding everything related to cycling. Anyway, I think I can give it a slight recommendation mostly to fans or haters of Armstrong's and to those who like cycling. For the rest of the audience, better read the article on Wikipedia; the effect will be the same as the one I had while watching this movie, with the difference that you will have to invest much less time.

I was a bit surprised to see this biopic had a rating of 6.5 after I watched it. I find most IMDb reviews far too generous, but in my opinion, this rating was about right.its a solid bio-pic that tells an interesting story of a cheater and his downfall. I am generally not very interested in sports, but I do like true stories of people and their weakness, and Armstong is a flawed character, who even in disgrace and failure never seemed able to really grasp the enormity of his flaws. The movie was coherent, well scripted, an d reasonably acted. and I've looked at the reviews that have marked it lower than that, and most of them complain that its is not as powerful in the end as it should be. I guess, to some extent, I can see where they are coming from. Who can argue that the the level of dishonesty displayed by this man should have ended in a total downfall of heart-wrenching magnitude? Like Armstrong (eventually), the movie tells it like it is and doesn't contemplate the full enormity of the situation for dramatic effect.

Very well-made flick. Cycling scenes are authentic, so are the settings. Acting by Ben Foster was amazing, maybe a little too intense. Yeah it's pretty clear that Armstrong was an intense dude but I've followed along with his career, his social media, his accomplishments, and when he gets the endorphin rush I've seen he can be a pretty happy guy. Only wish there was more of a backstory to Armstrong's life and more detail to the last few years before he ended up confessing. Highly doubt the average fan knows actually how bad of a cheat Contador is/was - every bit if not worse than Armstrong. Also, during his comeback, Lance claims - and other cyclists claim - that he came back as a clean rider. Deep down, I think he hates that he had to dope. But to choose cycling as your profession, and to try to feed a half-billion dollar charity, the only way to turn blood to dollars was The Program.

"If we keep cheering loud enough maybe it will go away and no one will ever hear the unwelcome question. Is this real, or is it dope?" Lance Armstrong (Foster) is the greatest cyclist in history. He wins the Tour de France year after year and has become the poster boy for the sport. Everyone loves him and is inspired by him and what he stands for. David Walsh (O'Dowd) begins to wonder how he wins so easily and suspects that it isn't legit. This is a story that everyone knows the basics of. What I didn't know was how early he was suspected, and how everyone wanted to hide it and not talk about it. Walsh really took heat for suggesting what was happening but stuck with it. Armstrong was as smooth as he could be in dodging and deflecting the questions about his use. I actually liked this movie a lot more than I expected to and even though it didn't really drop any bombshells it is still interesting and very much worth seeing. Overall, a movie that is entertaining and very much worth seeing even though everyone knows what happened. I actually recommend this. I give this a B.