Gracie

As the father of a daughter, I am always looking for the kind of film that matter-of-factly informs girls that, through desire and plain hard work, you can achieve your goals. That is a common, obvious message, but ask yourself how many movies are delivering that message to girls without also referring, whether overtly or by implication, to appearance and sexuality. The universe of those films is tiny. Well, finally, here is one!! Unfortunately, this movie was marketed poorly and did not do well at the box office. That does not mean, however, that it should die on the vine as a DVD. If you think a simple positive message of grit and determination for girls is worthy of wide distribution, then its going to take word of mouth to do it, because clearly the studios don't care. Spread the word about Gracie!!

This is the movie's title in Italy "My Greatest Dream". And the title says the truth: playing soccer in a male team for a girl is unthinkable, at least here in Europe.

The movie is quite well acted, Carly is fine and the rest of the crew does a god job. But the script does not work. Period. The screenplay communicates a false (and quite dangerous) message: everybody can do what they dream to do if they apply enough and is not discouraged, doesn't matter how difficult is the task.

What if Gracie had liked to play football or baseball or basketball in a male team? Or boxing against male boxers?

Carly Schroeder. I consider Lizzie McGuire to have some retrograde aspects, grit stemming from the blatant vengeance culture approach of Lizzie's family. It was a step towards me considering modern Disney to be highly suspicious, but a few years on and I have to find Disney's Lizzie McGuire, also Nickelodeon's Zoey 101, still to be head and shoulders better than most other television series for kids that I have on DVD. Carly occasionally appearing as 'Melanoma', a memorable and very beautiful but scary friend of Lizzie's scary little brother.

The past two years I have looked to see if Carly had anything else out on disk. I found Firewall, which did not appeal to me. Now I have obtained this.

This story shows that she can handle a very different role to Melina. Not that all who have commented on this would agree. In this her beauty is usually tamed down but she is trying to head in directions that often feel to be sensible. The people around her have different understandings of sensible. For me, this is the power of the story.

There is a lot of grit in this story as well. It is based on the 1970's and the males remind me of the males in such as Detroit Rock City, alien and really vomit level aggressive cavemen. The football field is not understood as a place with rules of good conduct, it is more a battlefield where the opposition are tough and players are tough even to players on their own team who they do not consider to rate good conduct. They are supposed to be tough, skilled but tough. This would never be a Dr Spock understanding of manly male? This is nothing like the bits of football or UK rugby league that I used to occasionally go to in the 1960's.

It reminds me of the world of battling 'heroes' that I occasionally noticed in sports posters, local UK in the 1990's. An alien world. In the UK 1970's I did not notice the violence in people, it was there but more a hidden thing, silent and deadly.

In this, lead character Gracie is damaged by the violence, it knocks her down for more than half a year. She shows herself as having what it takes to gradually become a survivor. For me that is not the important part of the story, what counts more as this being a story that I can find okay on a second or third viewing. It is an okay way to pass the time.

Add the soundtrack including the sort of 1970's related music that I can rate as hot.

The bird is an American Kestral, aka American Sparrowhawk. A young male, not European but very common in the USA. The commentaries add detail. These are more real than one's average commentary.

This movie is inspired by (and thus LOOSELY based) on producer/actress Elisabeth Shue's life. So coming from the fact its producers are actual soccer players, I wanted to love it. I didn't love it, but I did like it.

While this movie is a "soccer" movie, in my eyes, it is really a movie more about a family - esp. the main character Gracie - dealing with the death of a loved one (her brother). It shows how different characters deal or avoid dealing with their grief. Gracie eventually turns to one of the things she used to love to share with her brother - soccer. Soccer is also something that her dad and her brother shared, so Gracie and her dad reconnect through the sport.

As a drama addressing the challenge of growing up as a female athlete a few decades earlier, I give it an 7.5/10. Some people on this Message Board want to bash it as a man-hating message, but you have to remember that this movie is NOT trying to represent girls' athletics today - in 2007. It is representing how it was practically 30 years ago, when it WAS tough to have an equal shot at sports. They did a decent job.

As a drama dealing with death, I give it an 8/10. A lot of the character's grief is portrayed through action, not dialogue, which worked pretty well. However, with so much build-up, I was waiting for more of an emotional punch and it didn't quite come full circle.

As soccer movie, I give it a 7/10. Given that I love soccer, I'm probably harshest on that. I will say the soccer is more realistic than a lot of soccer movies out there. But they definitely take some creative license with the rules of the game. There seems to be a lot of irresponsible coaches and ref's in this movie. The parking lot/backlot soccer seems most realistic to me.

If you like soccer OR dramas, I recommend this movie.

Gracie is a great, family film. Gracie is played beautifully by Carly Shroeder as a girl surround by three soccer-playing brothers, Johnny, Mike, and Dan. The film opens as her brother has her kick a soccer ball barefoot to hit an empty bottle on top of the car. This film is set in South Orange, New Jersey in 1978 and is inspired by the events of the Shue family. Elisabeth Shue plays the mom and school nurse at Columbia High School in South Orange which does exist and whose alumni includes the Shues and Zach Braff. South Orange is also an upscale suburb of New York City and Newark, New Jersey. At the time of the movie set in 1978, an average dual income working class couple with four children could live comfortably there. South Orange has become an upscale white collar community ever since 1978 to feature celebrity residents like Kelly Bishop and Andre Braugher. Also, South Orange is home to Seton Hall University. The film was filmed on location around New Jersey including Maplewood where we see Gracie running on a downtown street. It was a family affair in the filming process including Elisabeth Shue not only as an actress but as an executive producer along with her husband and director, Davis Guggenheim. Her brother Andrew Shue plays an assistant soccer coach and history teacher. In real life, Andrew played soccer too. Dermot Mulroney is terrific as the father, coach, and moving man in his profession. At first, the family has a star, Johnny Bowen, but tragedy strikes the family. We see Gracie rebelling against her parents who are already heartbroken with despair over their loss as well. The two younger brothers seem unaffected at least in the movie. Gracie has one best female friend who is afraid of being labeled a lesbian because of her association with Grace. She decides one night to take her brother's spot on the team much to her father's laugh. She is serious but rather than prepare and strive. She rebels, dates a boy, fails history, and plays hooky at Asbury Park with a college boy. Until her father decides that he will coach her to get on the team, there are difficulties since she is a girl but she is determined and the film is not entirely predictable. It is a family oriented. It's just in time for Father's Day! The film is somewhat believable and realistic at times. They do their best to maintain the authenticity of the time and playing Bruce Springsteen songs as well. I admire the Shues for their determination in making the film entirely on location in New Jersey keeping with their roots. Stay until the end of the credits, you will be interested to see what it has to say. I like this film overall and it's message is that a girl can do it too.