Ebert gave the movie three and a half stars.
He was described as fired up about it, calling it a realistic depiction of small-town life, and as a big sports movie guy.

Carla's route from Trenton to San Francisco via Spokane; Carla's wardrobe; a tournament ending at 178; the final-match scoring; little visible weight loss; scattered supporters at the final; Elmo smoking in the gym; a pop star in a Spokane bar

In the discussion (8)

Approx. transcript time · 00:43:06Read transcript

A talented pop singer playing a Spokane sports bar is overqualified, and the bar does not seem to check IDs.
Driving or hitchhiking from Trenton to San Francisco would never pass through Spokane; the route was mapped at 31 to 33 hours.
Carla never wears the same outfit twice despite hitchhiking, raising how many suitcases she has.
The tournament oddly ends with the 178 weight class.
The championship scoring jumps from 9-9 to 13-9 with points unseen; another participant thought the takedown and scoreboard added up, and a penalty point is floated.
A producer's nitpick asks whether it would be better if he had to gain weight; it is felt that Modine does not visibly lose the weight, which could have been hidden with baggy clothes.
At the final match his supporters are scattered across sections, with many cutaways.
Elmo shoves a woman and lights a cigarette in a high school gym, compared with Elizabeth Perkins smoking everywhere in Big.

Casting What-Ifs

No affirmative selection

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:49:22Read transcript

No real casting alternatives turned up in research.
A garbled joke offers Michael J. Fox in a role, with a "don't call him chicken" riff.

Recasting Couch

Cast left unchanged

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 00:49:37Read transcript

All the actors were liked and none would be changed.
Cruise (transcribed "Cruz") would have been an interesting Loudon but would not pull off the horny part, with a joking question about his height.
Improvement is visible over the shoot in the house guest's performance, rough at first since it was her first movie and more believable by the end.
A proposal to merge the Madonna singer role and the house guest into one character is retracted after learning the house guest wants to be a painter, then revived as a two-for-one.
The car-lot fight over a lemon that brings the character to the house is hard to follow and needed a rewind.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Modine's comment on Madonna; Frank Jasper's weight cuts and wrestle-off audition; Schoeffling's wrestling background; Modine's Venice Beach fan story

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 00:57:47Read transcript

Research read on air quotes Modine a couple of years ago saying Madonna looked like Boy George and people were not impressed despite producers predicting stardom.
Research read on air says Frank Jasper was a trainer and bodybuilder who cut to about 189, never reached 168, and had to cut again for reshoots.
Research read on air says he got the part by hanging around the shoot, then winning a wrestle-off against another candidate in front of the producers and director.
He shows little range and it was not a launching-pad part, though he moved to L.A.
Research read on air says the actor who played Cooch was an accomplished wrestler who won freestyle gold with a U.S. junior team in 1978, scaled back to lose to Modine, and left the business by about 1990.
Research read on air says that about 25 years later Modine told the Spokane paper that a driver jumped from a moving car in Venice Beach to say Vision Quest saved his life.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Did Charlie Sheen take Michael Schoeffling's career?; Where did Loudon's new wrestling shoes come from?; What happens to Loudon after high school?; How bad does Loudon smell?; Did the champion choke?

In the discussion (8)

Approx. transcript time · 01:13:36Read transcript

Charlie Sheen may have taken Michael Schoeffling's career: the Lucas and Ferris Bueller types, and a Wall Street, Platoon and Young Guns run he could have handled.
Loudon's cheap wrestling shoes become expensive red ones late in the film, suggested to come from the Tai Chi room-service guest Kevin, whose lemon meringue and coffee routine is mocked.
Loudon's future is imagined as prison, a bar storyteller about space travel, a cult leader, a wrestler at Washington State, or a teacher who gets fired.
How bad he smells after the rubber suit, and why Margie is both editor and chief sports writer of the paper.
After Carla leaves, Loudon dates Margie.
A Vision Quest 2 would follow Elmo to Brazil to meet Pele; another wants to know what happened to the champion.
How Loudon stays unpopular after the pegboard, dating a 21-year-old and beating the champion.
A First Take parody debates whether the champion choked, up 13-9 with 27 seconds left, instead of taking the win.