Hollywood doesn’t make enough movies about curling.
That feels like a miss. The sport of curling is filled with action! Drama! People sweeping ice really, really fast! Admittedly, the sport may be an acquired taste for some. But I’m telling you, a movie about curling would be box-office gold. At least in Winnipeg.
But until that movie is made, viewers have other options to sate their thirst for movies about Olympic-approved winter sports. You can find movies about skiing, skating, hockey and even snowboarding. And a few just might even be fit for family viewing. Let’s take a look at five potential medal contenders.
Cool Runnings (1993, PG)
The last time that Jamaica saw snow was way back in 1957. But that didn’t stop the tiny island nation from entering its very own bobsled team into the 1988 Olympics.
This 1993 comedy, starring the late John Candy as the team’s reluctant coach, landed in theaters before Plugged In’s comprehensive movie reviews landed on the internet. Still, we can tell you that parents will have to navigate a surprising amount of language and a few crude jokes if they take this film on a run.
But at its heart, Cool Runnings is a sweet story about a handful of lovable underdogs. They may not have medaled, but they left the Olympics as winners anyway.
While we’re on the subject of Olympic athletes who (some might argue) had no business being in the 1988 Olympics, let me introduce you to Eddie Edwards. This unathletic Brit with Coke-bottle glasses was determined to qualify for the Olympics in something. And given that England wasn’t exactly a ski-jumping powerhouse (its last competitive jumper had competed in 1929), Edwards figured that the event just might be his best shot.
This PG-13 film takes a few tumbles on its way to the finish line, sporting a few sly sexual references, profanity and some painful-looking falls. But our own Bob Hoose writes that the story itself is inspiring: “Eddie the Eagle tells us that following your passions and reaching goals that everyone else says you cannot reach, no matter how small, is a valuable thing indeed.”
Casey Carlyle is a physics whiz. But she’s also a promising figure skater—a hobby that her mother insists shouldn’t take away from her studies. But a Harvard scholarship allows Casey to join both of her talents, using her knowledge of physics to improve the performances of a handful of junior skaters (including Casey’s own).
This G-rated film comes with a bit of rude language and some spiteful behavior. But Plugged In’s Bob Smithouser enjoyed the flick when he reviewed it—suggesting it might make a great springboard for good conversation, especially between mothers and daughters. “While not great art,” Smithouser admits, “Ice Princess is a sweet cinematic bon-bon that knows its audience well and provides enough uplift to launch a triple axel.”
Like Casey, young Riley loves to skate. But forget figure skating: Hockey’s her thing, and she’s been chosen to participate in a high-level hockey camp with her friends. But wouldn’t you know it, Riley hits puberty around the same time, and with it all the anxiety—quite literally, in this case—that comes with it.
This was one of my favorite movies from 2024, and it marked Pixar’s return to tip-top form. Check out our review for the movie’s mild content concerns. But if your goal is to see a great film with resonant messages, this picturesque puck hits the net.
In Cool Runnings and Eddie the Eagle, we met some Olympic athletes who didn’t have a prayer of winning. In Miracle, we meet Olympians who weren’t supposed to even sniff the medal podium—and walked away with gold. We’re talking, of course, about the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, who shocked the world in Lake Placid and achieved one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
The film based on their improbable victory isn’t just about the win, though. It’s about the young men who grew into a team and the guy who—through his exacting standards and firm leadership—molded them into a winning one. Language is the film’s biggest issue, but otherwise the ice stays pretty rut-free.
