Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game

Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game
Directed by
  • Austin Bragg
  • Meredith Bragg
Written by
  • Austin Bragg
  • Meredith Bragg
Produced by
  • Rob Pfaltzgraff
  • Lana Link
  • Stacey Park
  • Summer Crockett Moore
  • Tony Glazer
Starring
CinematographyJon Keng
Edited by
  • Michelle Botticelli
Music byRob Barbato
Production
company
Distributed byMPI Original Films
Release dates
  • October 8, 2022 (2022-10-08) (Hamptons)
  • March 17, 2023 (2023-03-17) (United States)
Running time
95 minutes[1]
Country
  • United States
LanguageEnglish

Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game is a 2022 biographical comedy drama film directed and written by the Bragg brothers. The film stars Mike Faist, Crystal Reed, and Dennis Boutsikaris. It is based on true events around the story of Roger Sharpe, GQ journalist and real-life "pinball wizard" who in 1976 helped overturn New York City's 35-year ban on pinball.

Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game made its world premiere at the 2022 Hamptons International Film Festival.[2] It was released in select theaters and VOD on March 17, 2023.[1] The film received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot

In the 1970s, Roger Sharpe was a New Yorker struggling to rebuild his life as a writer, with his only escape being playing pinball. Although Roger finds work with a magazine and love with a woman, Ellen, whom he first met in an elevator, he discovers that the City has banned pinball for decades as gambling. With this challenge to his passion, Rogers is inspired to write first a magazine article and then a book about pinball with Ellen and her son, Seth, helping him. Although reluctant to answer the call by the Music and Amusement Association to join the fight to change the pinball law, Roger finds the need for a little fairer world is broader than just pinball as his love with Ellen is challenged by his frustrations. With that, Roger struggles to find a balance even as life leads him to accomplishing the improbable with one pull of the plunger.

Cast

Production

Initially conceived as a short documentary, after talking to Roger Sharpe in early 2020 Meredith Bragg decided it might be a film. Development of the script used information obtained from Sharpe over days of Zoom calls. Much of the footage of pinball playfields was recorded on the final day of shooting, with Sharpe playing the machines.[3]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 94% based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10.[4] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[5]

The film won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film at the Three Rivers Film Festival, the Overall Audience Choice Award and the Indiana Film Journalists Association Directorial Debut Award at the Heartland International Film Festival, and the Best Narrative Feature Award at the Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah Film Festival.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game". Archived from the original on June 26, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  2. ^ "PINBALL: THE MAN WHO SAVED THE GAME". Hamptons International Film Festival. Archived from the original on July 21, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  3. ^ Bragg, Meredith; Bragg, Austin (October 25, 2022). "Bragg Brothers Interview - Pinball: The man who saved the game" (Interview).
  4. ^ "Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on July 21, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  5. ^ "Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on July 21, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  6. ^ "Pinball Takes Top Prize at Three Rivers Film Festival". November 29, 2022. Retrieved March 10, 2025.


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