Quick Summary
- Who this is for: Sports movie fans, families looking for a redemption story, and anyone who liked Remember the Titans or Facing the Giants.
- What it’s about: A hotshot rugby player heads down a reckless path, lands in juvenile detention, and gets a second chance by joining the rival team his rebellious lifestyle once mocked.
- The short version: You can find it on fuboTV, Prime Video, Plex, Pluto TV, Apple TV, and a handful of other free and paid platforms — but it’s not on Netflix.
- Our take: If you want a clean, ad-free watch without hopping between apps, Living Scriptures+ is the easiest way to go, and it comes with a free 30-day trial.
What Forever Strong Is About
If you haven’t seen it, Forever Strong is a 2008 sports drama directed by Ryan Little. Sean Faris plays Rick Penning, a talented but reckless rugby player who lives about as hard off the field as he plays on it. After a night of bad decisions lands him in juvenile detention, the ward — played by Sean Astin — offers him a way back into the sport, but not with his old team. Instead, Rick ends up playing for Highland, the very rival program he used to trash-talk, under a coach (Gary Cole) who runs practices less like a sports team and more like a program built on discipline, accountability, and character.
It’s really a movie about learning to lose the ego and become part of something bigger than yourself, and that theme lands whether or not you know the first thing about rugby going in.
Cast: Sean Faris, Gary Cole, Sean Astin, Neal McDonough, Arielle Kebbel, Penn Badgley, and Julie Warner.
Runtime and rating: About 1 hour 49 minutes, rated PG-13 for violence, language, and some drug material.
Is Forever Strong Based on a True Story?
Sort of, yes. The film draws from the real Highland Rugby program in Salt Lake City and its longtime coach, Larry Gelwix, who built one of the most successful high school rugby programs in the country on discipline and character over raw talent. The main character, Rick Penning, and most of the specific plot points are made up, but the culture and coaching philosophy on screen come straight from the real program.
Is Forever Strong on Netflix?
Nope, it’s not currently part of Netflix’s US catalog. If that’s where you went looking first, you’ll need to check one of the platforms below instead.
Where You Can Actually Watch Forever Strong
Forever Strong has been out since 2008, so over the years it’s landed on a pretty wide mix of platforms, everything from paid subscriptions to fully free, ad-supported apps. Here’s what’s out there right now:
- Living Scriptures+ — Buy or rent the film and you’ll get a free 30-day trial of Living Scriptures+, which comes with over 5,000 other family-friendly and faith-based titles.
- fuboTV — Included if you already have fuboTV.
- Amazon Prime Video — Streams free with ads if you’re a Prime member.
- Plex — Free with ads through Plex’s ad-supported library.
- Pluto TV — Free with ads.
- Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu) — Free with ads, or available to rent/buy.
- Xumo Play — Free with ads.
- Hoopla — Free through participating libraries, usually with a library card.
- The CW app — Free with ads.
- Fawesome — Free with ads.
- Apple TV Store — Rent or buy.
- DVD/Blu-ray — Available through Amazon if you’d rather own a physical copy.
Want to Watch It for Free?
You’ve actually got a lot of free options with this one. Prime Video (with Prime), Plex, Pluto TV, Fandango at Home, Xumo Play, The CW app, and Fawesome will all let you stream it at no extra charge. The catch, like with most free streaming, is ad breaks, and availability on these platforms tends to shift without much warning. Hoopla is technically free too, but you’ll need a library card and there’s usually a monthly viewing cap.
Rent or Buy — Which Makes More Sense?
Go the Apple TV or Fandango rental route and you’ll pay less upfront, but you only get a short window to finish watching once you hit play. Buying costs more, but then it’s yours for good. Either way, that’s money spent on one movie, one time. If you already know you’ll want more films in this same lane down the road, a subscription is going to save you more in the long run.
Why We’d Point You Toward Living Scriptures+
Of everywhere you can watch this movie, Living Scriptures+ is genuinely the one we’d recommend. A few reasons why:
You get a lot more than just one movie out of it. Rent it through Apple or Fandango and that’s it — one film, one watch, done. Buy or rent through Living Scriptures and you also unlock a free 30-day trial covering thousands of other titles, plenty of which share the same themes of character, faith, and perseverance as Forever Strong.
It just fits the film better. Living Scriptures has built its library around stories that take faith, family, and personal growth seriously, which lines up well with a movie about a kid learning discipline and humility the hard way. It feels like a better home for it than getting lost in a general streaming catalog next to whatever’s trending that week.
No ads, no digging through catalogs that might not have it next week. Plex, Pluto TV, and the other free apps all come with ad breaks, and titles can rotate out of those libraries with little notice. Living Scriptures+ skips all of that.
Better value if you’ll watch more than once. If your family tends to like this kind of movie, paying per rental adds up fast. A trial, and a subscription after if you decide to keep it, gets you a lot more for close to the same money.
You’re supporting the kind of storytelling this film represents. Watching through Living Scriptures helps back independent filmmakers telling character-driven, faith-and-family stories, which is exactly the tradition Forever Strong comes out of.
A Few Common Questions
Is Forever Strong based on a true story? Loosely, yes — it’s inspired by the real Highland Rugby program and coach Larry Gelwix, though the main character and plot are fictionalized.
Who directed Forever Strong? Ryan Little, who also directed Saints and Soldiers and a handful of other faith-based films.
Is it on Netflix? No, not currently in the US.
Is it okay for teens to watch? It’s rated PG-13 for violence, language, and some drug material, so it leans toward older kids and up.
Where can I watch it for free? Prime Video (with Prime), Plex, Pluto TV, Fandango at Home, Xumo Play, The CW app, and Fawesome all currently have it at no extra cost.
What’s genuinely the best way to watch it? Living Scriptures+ — free 30-day trial, no ads, and a library full of similar character-driven, faith-based titles worth exploring afterward.
Bottom Line
There’s no shortage of ways to watch Forever Strong — you could stream it free on Pluto TV tonight if you wanted to. But if you’re after the best overall experience, without ads, without hunting through catalogs that might not have it next week, and on a platform built around the same values this film explores, Living Scriptures+ is worth starting with. The free 30-day trial makes it easy to watch this one and see what else is sitting in their library.
