67
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumIt's a stylish scramble of evocative footage, groovy music, and crazy-candid reminiscences from key players still proud to score.
- 75TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghCrowder and Dower's film is a refreshing reminder that without Ross and the Erteguns, pundits would have had to coin an entirely different term to describe "soccer moms," since without the Cosmos' brief and shining moment in the sun, suburban soccer leagues would be as rare as collegiate boccie tournaments.
- 75New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickOnce in a Lifetime, which is being released at the peak of World Cup fever, is the sort of sports documentary that will appeal even to nonfans. It's a quintessential only-in-New York story.
- 75New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsOnce in a Lifetime performs a belated autopsy on the Cosmos and the North American Soccer League and basically concludes that they died of impatience.
- 75Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneYou don't need to be a soccer fan to, like Cosmos fans, fall for this captivating tale, told in "Rashomon"-like style.
- This is a movie so unabashedly in love with its subject that even audiences who don't know Giorgio Chinaglia from Georgie Best will leave the theater grinning.
- 67The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasOnce In A Lifetime is less a proper documentary than an extended VH1 Behind The Music episode, but there's only a little bit wrong with that.
- 60Village VoiceVillage VoiceThis intermittently fascinating documentary chronicles the rise and fall of the Cosmos --which is also the rise and fall of U.S. soccer.
- 50L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyThough the movie promises a Behind the Music–type look at the meteoric rise and tragic fall of the Cosmos -- a team (if the press notes are to be believed) overwhelmed by wealth, groupies, rivalry and power struggles -- it all adds up to a tempest in a tea pot.