Lady Ballers

I am basically the target audience for this movie, but that said, a true Daily Wire fan won't pull punches.

Lady Ballers' claim to fame is its comedic satire and on that front, it does very well. A common worry for me with modern comedies is that the trailer will show every good joke or point the movie has to offer, leaving the rest of the movie to be bland plot exposition. In this case, there is plenty more than the trailer shows, but none of it will necessarily exceed the trailer. What you see is what you get.

There are a lot of jokes, and some of them are downright incredible, while some of them fall flat. It's definitely a weird movie, and how many and which jokes you laugh at will likely depend on personal taste. I totally agree with the take that this movie may as well have been written by Adam Sandler. On that point, it is not appropriate for kids under 13. Some mature themes are explored (obviously) and there are some dirtier jokes involved. Obviously nothing disgusting is shown, but there may certainly be some awkward questions if watching this flic with those not familiar with the existence of weird fetishes and creeps.

As for the message of the movie, I'm happy to report that by the time it arrives, the audience is actually ready for it. There's no beating people over the head with politics (other than the men in women's sports thing obviously) and it winds up being genuinely heartwarming.

The acting is mediocre, which is to be expected given the non-professional actors, and the cameos make it all worth it.

The cinematography is honestly a bit weird at times, and there were some occasional choices that I found annoying, but pretty good quality overall. The actual production on display is completely acceptable, and quite impressive considering the low budget. It genuinely felt like any other Hollywood production in terms of quality. Clearly a lot of work was put into this movie. (It also says something that $7 million is all you need to achieve the quality of Hollywood's $100 million releases but that's a topic for another time)

Best part of the movie: Matt Walsh's character didn't have a single less-than-stellar moment. From writing to casting, his character is brilliant. Most characters have both great and bad lines/acting/presence but a few absolutely knock it put of the park, with the most obvious being Matt.

The worst part: there are definitely some odd side quests and stupid tangents sometimes. They aren't necessarily boring, but very weird. The good news is that they don't last too long so you won't get too annoyed as the story seems to spiral out of control. Yes they are slightly pointless, but the story will get back on track within a few minutes.

Overall: not bad at all! Not a classic or mind blowing, but definitely does its job sufficiently. Not going to be my favorite movie, but will be watching again. It's probably not worth an entire DW subscription for, but if you were already in the fence, this could certainly put you over the edge, especially if this isn't the last of its kind. I hope we get more like this in the future!

SBG for life!

Watched Lady Ballers this morning. It's available only on Daily Wire+. The movie reminds me of comedies from the 80's or 90's; silly and irreverent. No nudity, but there are some racy jokes about body parts and bedroom acts.

Jeremy Boreing plays the head coach of a men's basketball team who all decide to identify as female to win a women's tournament. The jokes practically write themselves. To be honest, some land and some don't. Enough land, however, to rank LB at 7/10.

Matt Walsh playing against type as "Kris" the hippie was delightful. Couldn't stop laughing whenever he was on screen. And, the actress who plays coach's daughter is very sweet. She steals the opening scene.

What I didn't expect to be so wow-ed by was the musical score and beautiful drone shots of Nashville. The opening theme song is earnest and oh-so cheesy; a la American Flyers. Love it! There were lots of musical changes of pace, too, like the switch to an old-worldy accordion tune for the scene where coach is getting roughly handled by the dominatrix reporter. "Furnace burn!"

I've also got some quibbles. For example, the final, fade-to-black image was totally unrelated to the rest the movie. Just oddly edited. Also, the players were too often either fighting or high fiving. That got old quick; as if dudes can't just sit and chill without punching each other.

Overall, it was fun.

Watched this and was entertained, but it's not great movie by any means. I do not think that the Daily Wire has hit the mark with this film. They're always talking about Politics being downstream of Culture and that their hoping to get involved with the culture and change it. This film has too much over politicization to be smartly funny and effect the Culture.

I enjoyed it once and will probably never watch it again. I would not say it was especially funny and I think this movie is really just for conservatives.

Like Matt Walsh's "kids" book I think it overall is a missed opportunity of doing something that could have wider cultural weight.

Look, I'm not gonna come in and give it a 10/10. It's no Baseketball or Dodgeball, but it's got some genuinely funny jokes. More than a few times I had genuine hardy laughs. There's a few times it gets sincere and those parts are great. The ending is a little weak, but there's not a lot they could do with it and still is wrapped up pretty well. My least favorite part is a shameless ad thrown in which got a smile, but moreover a deep rolling of my eyes. They hit the audience with a lot of very true statistics, (just because you don't like what you hear doesn't make it propaganda). For their first attempt at a comedy this was pretty good, and makes me look forward to more from the DW. In a world where Hollywood is too afraid to make a decent comedy for fear of offending even one person this was refreshing. Like a glass of water in the desert. Maybe not an ice cold glass of water, but still very refreshing,

DW promised a goofy, early 2000s comedy with a message and I believe, overall, in landed. I enjoyed it and laughed at the slapstick goofiness and appreciated the meaningful bits. I can see and understand where it fails a little too.

As a stand alone comedy, it's a popcorn movie and doesn't overstay it's welcome with it's pacing, comedy, and plot. The general movie goer (who isn't wildly liberal) would still have a good enough time if one likes movies such as the The Hot Chick, White Chicks, Scary Movie, Wayne's World, and other such on-the-nose, wacky, dumb movies that would have a difficult time being made today. It is true that a DW fan would find the movie more enjoyable due to the cameos - which were extra hysterical if you're "in the know."

If I could only change one thing as someone who loves the idea of this comedy shedding light on an important issue, I would have either removed the ending cameo entirely, or shifted it to after credits.

The general public would also enjoy it even more if they are aware of the western nations' culture war; if the viewer is unaware, the hopeful goal of the movie would be to make people aware of conservative concerns.

That said, the movie does not ride on the backs of DW and conservative cast members; it scratches the old comedy itch millennials have, makes gen x roll their eyes, and can show gen z what comedy used to be.