Why I Saw It: As someone who has always been awful at chess, I'm kind of fascinated by it. Even more interesting is the world of competitive chess. Throw in kids and I'm entrenched. Max Pomeranc is solid in this. He's not a great child actor, but sometimes just knowing how to stay out of the way of the adult performers is all that's required. This is the best role I've seen for Joe Mategna. It's redundant to say Ben Kingsley is good (then again, have you seen some of the movies he's in?). Lawrence Fishburne is having some fun too.
Why I Wish I Hadn't: "Based on a true story" is a dangerous thing because the true story is rarely cinematic. Numerous beats in the movie felt very played up to make it more interesting. Linked to that, I can't tell if the movie is trying to be a family movie or something more adult that happens to be about kids, so it's uneven at times.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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