Most critics seem to like Robert Duvall’s latest film, A Shot At Glory.

Here’s what John Marriott, writing in the Scotsman, thought of it…..

A Shot at Glory (15)

Director: Michael Corrente

Starring: Robert Duvall, Ally McCoist, Michael Keaton, Brian Cox, Cole Hauser

"Martin Luther King was not the only American to have a dream. Robert Duvall, it seems, had one too. Even given that surrealism is the meat and potatoes of all our dreams, it still seems appealingly dotty that Duvall dreamed of himself as a Scottish football manager.

Attracting the interest of Denis O’Neill, who wrote The River Wild, Duvall hawked his project around the big studios, who felt that a film about a minority sport - in US terms - would be commercial death. (Its Scotland-only release in the UK is unlikely to cover its cost or its star-sized salaries.) Incidentally, the players here are all pros, and there is some good football, too.

Almost as odd as Duvall’s dream is the risky choice of Ally McCoist, whose screen antics up to now had been confined to McCoist and MacAulay and A Question of Sport. In the film he plays Jackie McQuillan, a former Celtic striker - some of his fans may never forgive him - a genius goalscorer whose fondness for birds, booze and belligerence has caused his family life to crumble. He begins the steep ascent towards stability and healing by being snapped up by the second-division Kilnockie, a team run by his father-in-law Gordon (Duvall). As Gordon can’t stand the sight of Jackie, tension - to put it mildly - is guaranteed.

It’s good to report that the redemption and comeback clichés (which result in a surprisingly unobvious ending) are kept in place by the cast. Bruised hero McCoist has more than his fair share of soulful moments in scenes which he often has to carry, and carries well.

Duvall, all firm chin and dome head, is the epitome of the Scot who sits firmly on his emotions, only revealing his feelings with a small grimace or slight sigh. He also has a fair go at a Scots accent (best guess, Glaswegian).

Brian Cox is quite good fun as the macho manager of Rangers (whom Kilnockie are up against in the final), a sly thug who doesn’t know how not to swear."

In The Sunday Herald, James Smart reports …..

"Art imitates life in A Shot At Glory, the tale of an overachieving Second Division club. Tabloid favourite Ally McCoist plays an ageing striker who leaves the Old Firm for a smaller team and is thrown into turmoil after his infidelities are revealed.

But the film is fairytale, not fact. Indeed, its fictional football club, Kilnockie, is managed and owned by Robert Duvall (with a reasonable approximation of a Scottish accent) and Michael Keaton, respectively.

McCoist, perhaps inspired by his own experiences, gives a remarkably solid performance, both on and off pitch.

His arrival at the club leads to a glorious cup run, culminating in a David and Goliath clash with Rangers. The Knockies' journey into the history books is an entertaining if largely predictable one, but the plot's flaws are outweighed by a cheerful warmth that suffuses the whole enterprise. And the football looks almost convincing."