Reception
The Program received largely negative reviews. James Berardinelli said "prepare to be inundated by a load of feeble, unimaginative material that's almost impossible to take seriously." Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C+ in what was a largely negative review. Norman Chad referred to the film as "one big cliche."
The film was not without its fans, however. Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review with three stars out of four, putting particular emphasis on the amount of time spent on the relative ease in passing an NCAA drug test, saying "nd the movie seems expert on how a lineman could pump himself full of steroids and still pass the NCAA drug tests." Janet Maslin gave the film a somewhat favorable review and particularly praised the performance of Andrew Bryniarski, saying "hen high on steroids, he turns into a competition-crazed monster, but the film manages to make him likable anyhow."
Despite the mostly negative reviews, the doping subplot was met with universal acclaim, with most critics hailing the performance of Bryniarski as the steroid-riddled behemoth defensive end Steve Lattimer.
The film bombed at the box office, failing to recover its budget.
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