The movie Gracie about a high school girl who tries out for the boys' soccer team (inspired by the memory of her dead brother) came out last May. I finally got around to seeing it last night.
It was bad.
I wanted it to be good; but it just wasn't.
It was very predictable. As my fellow movie-watcher noted, "when a movie starts out with a sentimental, touching scene between siblings you know one of them is going to die."
And cliched: there was an injured bird in a cage that the (now dead) brother was trying to nurse back to health. Gracie, the devoted little sister, released it at the end and it flew away.
And guess who scores the winning goal against the team they lost to in the previous season's championship? Well I won't ruin the movie for you.
And a little unrealistic. Gracie was based loosely on the childhoods of Andrew and Elisabeth Shue, both soccer players/fans who have roles in the movie. The movie is set in the 1970s--Gracie evokes Title IX when arguing for a chance to try out for the team. It's not the fact of Title IX or a girl playing with boys that is most improbable; it's the level of interest in soccer. The crowds at the game; the interest by every family member in the sport; the level of community interest. Soccer is not that popular now; how could it have been such a crowd pleaser in the 70s?
It had potential as a movie about a girl fighting for her right to play and gain the respect of the men in her life (father, ex-boyfriend, brothers, coaches), but the whole dead brother thing kind of got in the way.
I don't think this one is winning best sport movie of the year at the ESPYs.
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