User reviews

This 91 minutes Chariots of Fire wannabe rises above its obvious cinema 'warts' and wins a gold for fun, fast entertainment. The fictional drama of a struggling UK relay team approaching a world championship race offers realistic action and lots of cliché drama. Elements of Chariots of Fire and Rocky abound and yet the cast, young, energetic and obviously devoted to the project create the necessary realism on the field if not off.

Shania seeks to escape the trappings of her ghetto London neighborhood although the race card can not be played when three of the four team members are black. This brings us to the ever lovely California blond looking Lisa. Lisa is refreshing, rich and nasty. The latter no doubt related to her over bearing, domineering father, himself an ex-medal winner and very well played by veteran actor Rupert Graves.

The film keeps us close to the real action, running! The final race score, Starlight by Matt Cardle (see the YouTube music videos) was spot on and a perfect match for the haunting action. The mix of slow motion, action and one nice overhead shot enhanced the final key scene. Will the girl from the wrong side of the tracks grab the gold ring? If you want to see the films much higher ratings check out its 82% critics and 65% audience at Rotten Tomatoes. This entertaining feel good sports movie deserves a wide audience. Give it a shot. Most likely you will be glad you did. Aside from all else be sure to watch and enjoy the final world championship race!

With the London Olympics fast approaching, what better way to cash in on the mood with a film about Female Athletics....that doesn't mention the Olympics at all or make any references to London. Nevertheless, the story is enjoyable, depicting a group of athletes trying to win relay success at the ''world championships'' despite having barely any practice, getting drunk before races and generally arguing with each other. Classic British spirit there.

Our main characters Shania and Lisa, come from different backgrounds, Shania is working-class (we know this, as she claims she's never even been on a plane before!) whilst Lily is posh and supported by her family. Ignoring the fact that this is basically Bend It Like Beckham 2, the story works like a soap, at times it felt like an Olympic special of Eastenders, even featuring the actress who played ''Chelsea'' in the soap. There's drama, affairs and fights, alongside the minor issue of the actual Athletics.

Written by Noel Clarke (Kidulthood/Adulthood creator), the film is very fast paced, and has that ''urban'' soundtrack to please teenagers. It essentially does what it says on the tin and you will find yourself caring about who wins the big race at the end!

6/10

It is a lot of years now since I was last in a "proper" nightclub but I do remember my years working in work and feeling part of the places in a way that my mid-30's self really doesn't now. Anyway, at their best a club is loud with appropriate music (maybe not great music, but music that works in that context) and it creates a sense of feeling good and shared enjoyment that is quite a thing – people look good, nobody is self-conscious about their terrible dancing and generally people are enjoying themselves despite the fact that the night will probably not leave them with too much beyond the moment.

So, why am I talking about this? Well to me this film reminded me of that experience, even more so given that the spirit of the Olympics was still resonating around the UK. The film follows an athlete who is from the wrong side of the tracks and has limited resources but yet manages to make it onto the Great Britain team; challenges come in the personal and professional type, but can she overcome? Well of course the answer is pretty obvious and so goes the film because this is a product that is marketed to clearly hit a vein of Olympics fever. As a film it is pretty basic; I'm pretty sure that if you sped up all the slow-mo bits that it would run to 60 minutes, not 90, and that if you took out all the scenes that had recent UK pop music over it then it would probably be only half that again. However, it still works for what it is – a "of its time" feel good movie.

The film mostly focuses on low level set pieces, whether they be heavily sound tracked racing action or just generic social drama background – it is all filmed the same way; superficially and without heart. Indeed this is the core of the film – heartless and superficial; the characters don't ever appear as people, the scenarios are never fleshed out beyond the level of wallpaper and the film itself is keen to exist on this very simple level. In this regard it is of course weak – it never draws the viewer in but what it does do is provide simple stimuli in the construction. As a result the race is still engaging, the plot is still simply effective and it works. The cast are part of this as they play natural despite their paper thin characters and motivations. Crichlow leads the cast well – when the script gives her a little bit to work with she does it well, otherwise she is solid enough to carry it. James is not as good – a problem since she carries the weight for the tension; she doesn't convince and neither does that element of the plot. The supporting cast are generic but Graves, Benjamin, Burroughs and others do the job well enough for this. Clarke gets his face in again while Bradley James is good-looking at least.

Overall this film works as a simple crowd-pleaser but this is not to suggest that it has any merit beyond the superficial, because it doesn't. The soundtrack is as important as the cast and, while they do a decent job, the script never does more than provide wallpaper to the style and "feel" of the film. It does still work in the way that an ugly person looks good in the drunken euphoria of a nightclub – but, while it is fun in the moment, you don't want to be waking up next to this film.

Good writing and acting. the characters they portray seem like real people,like the ones you know. I enjoyed this but the ending but typical.

I really enjoyed this especially as it was family friendly and good strong female characters - dialogue as bit amateurish but the cast do ok with it

This film really gave me the impression that the creators really didn't know that much about athletics and just made this purely to cash in on the UK's Olympic hype.

Fist of all it's implied that the main character is relatively unknown in athletics and springs out of nowhere to become part of the team GB World Championship athletics team. Yeah, that's not really how it works, if she was already getting times that were good enough to be in the running for a team GB place, people would have known about her. She would already have competed in many national competitions and made a name for herself before qualifying for Great Britain.

Also the fact that they go on a night out and drink alcohol literally the night before an international competition doesn't make much sense. If that was how the GB team operated in real life, I'd be very worried, therefore it's obviously just a plot device put in place to create conflict failing to reflect any sort of reality.

However those are just little gripes. What really brought this film down was the clichéd plot points. We've got the arguments in the team which threaten to stop them winning, the forced romance which breaks down due to a misunderstanding and character arcs like the main character not working well in teams and the rich girl whose father does away with her if she doesn't win. These have all been done before, are executed poorly in this film and lack any depth as we know full well what will happen the moment we see them.

They could have included an interesting plot point which connects to athletics, such as the main character being offered performance enhancing drugs or maybe delving deeper into how the main character got into running. But no, you could pretty much put this film's storyline into any sports movie and it would still work. Well, I say work, what I mean is produce the same forced and bland garbage that these kind of films have developed into over the years.

All in all, the characters have no chemistry, the film is detached from reality and the plot points are very predictable.

Do I really need to tell you what happens in the end? Didn't think so.

I didn't have high hopes for this film before I went to see it because I thought it was just going to be predictable. But it was amazing! You really connect with the main character through her athletic career and you are on the edge of your seat in the races. I went to see it with a couple of friends just for a day out and we came out of the cinema very happy - much happier than expected! As Fast Girls is just out at the cinema, it hasn't got a review yet on IMDb and I was unsure whether to see it, as I usually only see a film that is 7 or above. I think that this film is well worth at least an 8! Comedy, the Olympics and a little bit of romance... what more could you want?

Fast Girls is a fine example of hard working paying off. Yes, it's just a film but it also represent the truth of how far you can go if you're willing to put in the work necessary. You often see films like this that are unrealistic and paints a story far from something achievable. Not fast girls. It's was also good to see the British flag flown with such pride and respect, something we don't see much of anymore in today's world. It's also a nice promotion of that pride and hardworking British bulldog mentality that needs to come back. More people should watch this film. It really did deliver for sports.

I recently came across this movie on an online movie site. As a 30 year veteran of track and field officiating in the US and with at least 35 years experience as a competitor, I thought the movie might be interesting. The plethora of errors about the sport of athletics (track and field in the US) were more than I could tolerate after watching about 30 min. The US relay squads DO NOT practice and run together for years as one British national coach asserted. That is why they fail to finish or are disqualified from so many World Championship and Olympic 4 x 100 meter relay races. The 4 x 200 meter relay is almost never run in international meets as was pictured in the film. At least one, and usually several field events are being contested in the infield during meets. That the infield was conspicuously void of athletes during the meet in Spain seemed to prove that the movie had a very small budget and couldn't afford actors to portray jumpers, vaulters, and throwers, or the writer(s) knew next to nothing about the sport. I won't even try to go into the plot and acting shortcomings.

with a very loose Luke-warm screenplay, boring scenario and plot, tasteless dialog and marginal elementary acting of all actors and/or actresses, this movie in general, sucks although still barely watchable. this movie gave me an impression as if watching an African country's athletes fighting their future in track and field careers instead of the British young athletes. sorry, i did have such confusing impression as if i was watching a nowadays' south African track and field movie since the whites were the minority. these female sprinters were a new kind of sports species, they drank, drunk, party all night, white against the black, black against the white, rich against the poor, parents either divorced or separated or one of them disappeared, or both disappeared.....what a sad but over-the-top modern day rich countries' social infra structural tragedy. winning is everything, no matter what. need a sponsor, or many sponsors, otherwise, no gears, no training coach, no future. what a commercialized world.

First of all let me say that this review probably won't portray this film particularly fairly. I should never have watched it to begin with. Fast Girls is clearly aimed at the younger generations - probably from age 10-17. For they will never have seen much like it before and enjoy the characters and soundtrack (mainly hip hop - I believe, but then again, I probably couldn't recognise hip hop if it hopped up and down on my head).

Fast Girls is about a poor girl from a run down area of London who just happens to be exceptionally fast. Therefore she qualifies for the British athletics team and goes away to train with them. However, there's a spoilt, blonde rich girl who got an A* in bitchiness for her GCSEs and loves nothing more than running down (no pun intended) anyone she perceives as poor, faster than her or from a run-down area of London - ooh-er, there could be friction here.

So, our poor, fast heroine from a run-down part of London must prove herself both socially and on the track. Not to mention become friends with the bitchy rich blonde girl. Do you think they manage to live happily ever after? Well, that depends on whether you've ever watched a film before. Only children may wonder whether it's all going to end smelling of roses.

Fast Girls is marketed as a 'feel good' film. I suppose it is. It (coincidentally!) came out around the same time as the London 2012 Olympics and does its best to cash-in on the general sporty mood of the nation.

In short. I hated this film. It's packed full of clichés and it's not even funny. But then I seriously doubt that I was ever the intended audience. I should probably chalk it up to a lesson on checking out a film before I watch it to make sure that it's more something I'd enjoy.

However, like I say, for the younger (less cynical) generations, it's probably got everything they could ever want - strong female role models, a love story and great (if you like that sort of thing) music to accompany it.

4/10 from me.

8/10 for anyone under 17 (I am now officially speaking on behalf of the youth of today!)

First saw a scene of this film back in 2014 and I fell in love with it. For months I couldn't track it down but recently someone recommended it to me. I was so happy to be finally watching it. It really does give one a confidence boost and I felt like I could take on the world after watching it. Love it and definitely recommend it.

This is not written as a review of the film so much as its rating and guidance for parents thinking they might like to watch this with a child younger than 15. The film is rated 12a and written about a subject that a lot of younger children would following the summer of 2012 want to watch.

As no content advisory existed I decided to review the film first before sitting with my 8 year old sports mad daughter and i am glad I did.

Amongst various scatological terms and suggestive comments the film was let down by the use of one muttered and two very clear F bombs which in my mind at least should have warranted a 15 rating and were completely unnecessary.

This is a shame as the film has the promise to be an athletic themed feel good along the lines of Bend It Like Beckham. I can only imagine this was allowed through by the censors as it was an Olympic year.

Love this movie great spirit .who doesn't love an underdog.lily James fab as snobby athlete.great chick flick.🇮🇪😀

Still, the inclusion of a token White girl in the team shows how the British PC culture is still uncomfortable with the reality it'd created.

Give it a wide berth especially if you know anything at all about athletics.

From the racial stereotyping to the sloppy attempt at romantic subplot through to the wholly inaccurate depiction of athletics, this is a slack attempt at a rags to riches feel good drama.

The lack of likeable characters make this a completely cold experience.

The athletics storyline is lacking any reality and accuracy and if anything is insulting to real professional athletes and the hard work they put in and sacrifices they make.

Made solely to cash in on London 2012.

My advice find a better way to spend a couple of hours.

Ok this is predictable and nothing you have not seen before but after saying that it is nonetheless hugely enjoyable.Loved all the characters ,all in all a real feel good movie for all the family

Things I do for Athletics.

This is a terrible film. Nothing here - I repeat: nothing - reflects the sport or a relay team. Everything is so pathetic: they qualify for a 200m Worlds Indoor race on an Outdoor race; they get drunk while competing; someone with her age doesn't even know what a relay is...wtf! There is also a pathetic romantic subplot, a pathetic familiar drama and a lot of subpar performances in the most predictable film ever made. The only good thing were the cameos.

It is one of the best motivation movies i have ever watched. the way they did it is just amazing. during the training you can see how important this was for them, witch also makes them great actors. it was really good and i fully recommend it to everyone.

Released during the London 2012 Olympics hype this I have no doubt will become buried very quickly on the CV of Lily James.

Every sports film cliche and stereotype is crammed in for good measure, with Noel Clarke as annoying as ever.

A dud. Sorry Lily.

Clearly a film that set out to be the track version of bend it like Beckham, and they were close to having all the right beats. It's hard to tell if the lacking was in the writing or the editing but it constantly felt like it was reliant on the viewer to know what the filmmakers were going for here. There's very little back story so it's hard to understand or buy into the character dynamics. The whole film pretty much boils down to "rich girl doesn't think about anyone but herself and poor girl doesn't know how to get along with others". It was great casting and makes me wish so much that there had been more there. Would have loved to get a little back story about the whole team.