Robert's Review

Set in 1978, a teenage girl overcomes the loss of her brother and fights the odds to achieve her dream of playing competitive soccer at a time when girls' soccer did not exist. Living in South Orange New Jersey, 15 year old Gracie Bowen is the only girl in a family of three brothers. Their family life revolves almost entirely around soccer: her father and brothers are obsessed with the sport, practicing in the backyard's makeshift field every day from morning 'til night. Tragedy unexpectedly strikes when Gracie's older brother Johnny, star of the high school varsity soccer team and Gracie's only protector, is killed in a car accident. Struggling with grief over her family's loss, Gracie decides to fill the void left on her brother's team by petitioning the school board to allow her to play on the boy's high school varsity soccer team in his place.

Her father, a former soccer star himself, tries to prove to Gracie that she is not tough enough or talented enough to play with boys. Her mother, Lindsey Bowen, already an outsider in the sports-obsessed family, is no help either. Undeterred, Gracie finds reserves of strength she never knew existed, and persists in changing everyone's beliefs in what she is capable of, including her own. Gracie not only forces her father to wake up from his grief and see her as the beautiful and strong person that she has always been but she also brings her family together in the face of their tragedy.

I borrowed that synopsis from Yahoo! Movies because this movie sucked and I didn't want to waste much time on this review. I'm so tired of these so-called "inspirational" stories that just aren't very interesting. So Gracie stood up against the boys, the school board and her family until they gave in and let her play soccer on the boy's team… so what?! Sure it's a great accomplishment, but it is really movie worthy? To me, this was about as interesting and "inspirational" as making a movie about a determined shopper who's trying to find a discontinued item, going from store to store and never giving up hope… and then finding the item at the end. Oh, here's a twist… maybe it was part of some set and now that set is complete. Yeah, that movie would be just as interesting as "Gracie" was. So here's my message to Hollywood – not everything is movie worthy! Some stories are just good enough to become made-for-TV movies or get printed in a newspaper/magazine, but that does NOT mean they be adapted for the big screen! So, save your $10 and wait for DVD if you must see this movie. Overall, it's just not that interesting.

All in all, I'd give this movie 2 STARS (out of 5). Re-watch value: NONE (This should have been a made-for-TV movie or a straight-to-DVD movie).

"Gracie" is set in 1978; a teenage girl overcomes the loss of her brother and fights the odds to achieve her dream of playing competitive soccer at a time when girls' soccer did not exist. Living in South Orange New Jersey, 15 year old Gracie Bowen is the only girl in a family of three brothers. Their family life revolves almost entirely around soccer: her father and brothers are obsessed with the sport, practicing in the backyard's makeshift field every day from morning 'til night. Tragedy unexpectedly strikes when Gracie's older brother Johnny, star of the high school varsity soccer team and Gracie's only protector, is killed in a car accident. Struggling with grief over her family's loss, Gracie decides to fill the void left on her brother's team by petitioning the school board to allow her to play on the boy's high school varsity soccer team in his place. Her father, a former soccer star himself, tries to prove to Gracie that she is not tough enough or talented enough to play with boys. Her mother, Lindsey Bowen, already an outsider in the sports-obsessed family, is no help either. Undeterred, Gracie finds reserves of strength she never knew existed, and persists in changing everyone's beliefs in what she is capable of, including her own. Gracie not only forces her father to wake up from his grief and see her as the beautiful and strong person that she has always been but she also brings her family together in the face of their tragedy. 

This is like most typical motivational movies based on a true story; it has all the elements, i.e. an underdog, someone who starts to believe, and the struggle.  Myself not being a big soccer fan really couldn't get into the movie, I did understand the motivation but the movie just didn't do much for me. The acting was descent, and the story was cool, but overall it was just another inspirational movie with nothing really super spectacular.  However it was good to see Elizabeth Shue again.

Overall Rating: 2 Stars (out of 5). Re-Watch Value: Low (maybe when there is nothing else on cable.)

Trivia: The school and town where 'Gracie' was filmed is the same place where Elisabeth Shue grew up and went to school.

courtesy
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