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?

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.

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

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

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!!

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.