Gracie

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.

I watched this movie out of pure boredom, thinking it was some fluffy family friendly movie - but it was actually dark and engrossing. The cover art for this movie really gives the wrong impression - the sunshine on the box never appears in the actually movie, and although this movie is inspiring it manages to do it without the lollipops and flowers that one might expect. This film is more about a family as it copes with tragedy and life in the 70's than it is about soccer, which is a good thing! It has enough soccer content for those interested, but people who dislike sports movies have nothing to fear either. I will admit there are a few sappy moments in this film, but luckily Gracie is no goody two shoes, and thus a more complex character. EXTRA BONUS - the sound track is excellent featuring Blondie.

Believe it or not, this story is partly based (and I think very loosely) on the real, early, life of actress Elisabeth Shue, who grew up playing soccer with boys. She herself also plays a role in this movie. There are actually a whole lot of more of her family members involved with this movie in one way or another, so you can really call this a Shue movie. Nothing wrong with that of course but it makes it just a bit all the more weird that the message at the end of the movie claims that female soccer in America was not accepted and didn't even exists, till there was Gracie, or should I say Lizzy Shue. But I don't hold this against the movie. The movie already has enough problems on its own as it is.

It's not a bad movie but I still really had tons of problems with it. First one is really its story. All of the drama and emotions feel very forced in and manipulative but even worse is that it's so incredibly formulaic and predictable. So, it's a movie about a girl who tries to make it to the boys soccer team at school...jeez, you think she will make it or not? But everything else that happens in between is also very predictable. It's really a movie by the numbers, which is not necessarily a bad thing if it got done right. And yes, the movie still does a lot of things right but its story and storytelling really prevent this movie from standing out in any way.

One of the things I also really didn't liked about the story was that it never felt realistic in any way. It was crazy how everybody was against Gracie playing soccer and saying silly stuff like 'grils can't play' or 'she is not good or though enough for the game'. But it was even more silly how all of the characters kept on switching back and forth with their opinions. The one moment someone was being really against the idea, while the other he or she is suddenly being very supportive and all for it. But this happens with no apparent reason, which was really annoying to be honest.

I must say it also didn't helped the movie very much that the acting in this movie was really below par.

The story can perhaps be understand and appreciated better if you understand that this movie was supposed to be set in the '70's, when girls at schools just had less choice on what to do with their lives and what sports to pick. I say this, because it really isn't apparent at all within this movie that it was supposed to be set in the '70's. All you basically see are some old cars but there is very little else to indicate that the story is supposed to be set in the '70's. So bad film-making in that regard, though this can also be put on its low budget of course.

But a more positive thing about this movie is the way the soccer matches are being portrayed. What I liked was that it showed the game as the tough and hard game that it can be and you also don't necessarily have to understand the rules of the game to watch this film. It doesn't ever get into any technical details or tactics, which makes this movie accessible to watch for basically everybody.

You will perhaps like this movie better if you're a young girl with dreams but to me this movie was just being very average and I think I'm still being very kind to rate this movie still as 'highly' as I do because the more I think about this movie, the less I'm starting to like it.

5/10

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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!!

Carly Schroeder has made, with this little film, perhaps the most pure-hearted big screen debut I've ever seen. The only other movie I can think of to rival this is "Whale Rider" and Keisha Castle-Hughes performance. But I really think Carly has the edge here. It's as if she's plucked a dream out of the ether and made it palpable. It's what the great actresses do, and I'm betting this woman could easily outdo every major name out there, given the chance. She's instantly likable and she transmits emotions through her face, voice, and body like she was born to convince you of her champion heart.

This is not an easy role. It's quite physical and most women have a deep dislike for exercise and even competition. After all, women are like dune buggies; men are like Mack trucks. But the truth is soccer can be played and won with finesse and heart, though it takes a special sort. Someone who can bring a deft touch to her play just when she should be exhausted and beaten. And there's no question in my mind none of the current crop of starlets would have struggled to do half the job that Carly does here. There are very few camera tricks that only imply physicality in the direction, instead it's all there for real, in a way that completely blew me away. These people believed in this film and it's paid off big time.

No, Hollywood is not quite as astute or clever as it thinks it is, so Carly's future can't be assured. But if there were ever a promising beginning, this is it. This is one beautifully acted and directed movie that I'm very sorry I didn't see when it first came out. I've no idea why it's not rated higher here. With all the ugliness we have to contend with, you'd think these armchair critics would be forced to let a breath of fresh air in. I'm guessing they're too far gone. I, on the other hand, think Carly has created, out of an impossibly pure and quite visible heart, one of the most memorable and believable female heroines I have ever seen.