FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

mariannay This is a "Spellbound" about music (for those you have seen this documentary about Spelling Bee competition). The film follows a group of pianists during a yearly Amateur Piano Competition held in Texas in the United States.The film is greatly edited, is entertaining and very witty. Moldovan housewife from the former USSR now living in California - Esfir is really touching, as well as an ophthalmologist from Alabama and many other contestants. There are software engineers, a TV producer, a flight attendant and a federal judge.They are all are over forty and have day jobs. And some of them have overcome something quite challenging in their lives - AIDS... heartbreak... political asylum...And, what is also important - the film celebrates great classical music: from Beethoven's The Tempest - to Rachmaninoff and Bach, Haydn and Chopin. A contestant or two will crash and burn on stage, but nobody's career will be ruined. In fact, there is nothing "amateur" about most of these pianists - some of them are brilliant - like Drew Mays - and they came to play for love, not for money.

jmkaganmd Here is a film that when you leave with friends you can actually sit down and have a conversation about it.The passion of the people in this exciting competition and the story each tells through the film offer many emotions. The music is wonderful.As the competition unfolds you find yourself involved and perhaps even wondering or rooting for one of these truly talented people who in their "spare time" just happen to have a passion for playing the piano. The director allows each of the stories to unfold without bias.Go see and listen -- you'll have a good time.

leslie hawke As soon as this film is available on DVD I am going to buy twenty copies to keep on hand to give to my over 40 friends on their birthdays. The underlying message is "go for it!". In an age when many gifted people consider themselves failures if they don't reach the world fame level in their field, it's a refreshing reminder of the power and pleasure of art for art's sake. "They Came to Play" was a delightful peek, for a non-musician like myself, into the intriguing and whimsical minds of the musically gifted. It was also an extraordinary feat of editing. It would be interesting to know how many contestants the filmmaker followed in order to come up with the final set of featured individuals.

Douglas Freeman I saw the film at a screening here in Los Angeles last year. I'll confess, I know the both the director and editor and am very fond of them and their work. Regardless, this is a brisk, captivating, and compelling depiction of an "amateur" competition that will knock the socks off anyone with a pulse. These are everyday folks who possess--or are possessed by--herculean skills, and the film really gets inside them...quirks, warts, and all. You're as likely to squirm with unease as you are squeal with delight, and be equally gratified either way. This is a wonderful film about conviction and obsession, a joyride through the artistic soul.