Inspired by one family's real story
This is the story of a teenager named Gracie Bowen, who lives in South Orange, New Jersey, is crazy about soccer, as are her three brothers and former soccer star father. Although Gracie wants to join her brothers and father in the nightly practices, she is discouraged by everyone except her elder brother, Johnny. Her father does not believe that girls should play soccer and tells her that she is neither tough enough nor talented enough to play with the boys team. 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. She faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer. But as the beautiful and strong person that she has always been but she also brings her family together in the face of their own tragedy.
Genre(s): Drama, Sport
Runtime: 95 minutes
Rating: 6.2/10 (1,836 votes)
Release Date: 12 March 2007
Country: USA
Languages: English
Company: Elevation Filmworks
Sound: Dolby Digital
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for brief sexual content.
Director(s): Davis Guggenheim
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Producer(s):
Cindy Alston - executive producer
Jeff Arnold - executive producer
Dustin Cohn - executive producer
Tom Fox - executive producer
Chris Frisina - co-producer
Davis Guggenheim - producer
Ken Himmelman - co-producer
Caroline Jaczko - line producer
Andrew Shue - producer
Elisabeth Shue - producer
John Shue - co-producer
Lemore Syvan - producer
Mead Welles - executive producer
Andrew Wiese - co-producer
Writer(s):
Lisa Marie Petersen - (screenplay) and
Karen Janszen - (screenplay)
Andrew Shue - (story) &
Ken Himmelman - (story) &
Davis Guggenheim - (story)
Cast:
Jesse Lee Soffer - Johnny Bowen
Christopher Shand - Kyle Rhodes
Carly Schroeder - Grace Bowen
Karl Girolamo - Curt
Vasilios Mantagas - Craig
Donny Gray - Donny
Emma Bell - Kate Dorset
Dermot Mulroney - Bryan Bowen
Hunter Schroeder - Mike Bowen
Trevor Heins - Daniel Bowen
Music: Mark Isham
Cindy Alston - executive producer
Jeff Arnold - executive producer
Dustin Cohn - executive producer
Tom Fox - executive producer
Chris Frisina - co-producer
Davis Guggenheim - producer
Ken Himmelman - co-producer
Caroline Jaczko - line producer
Andrew Shue - producer
Elisabeth Shue - producer
John Shue - co-producer
Lemore Syvan - producer
Mead Welles - executive producer
Andrew Wiese - co-producer
Writer(s):
Lisa Marie Petersen - (screenplay) and
Karen Janszen - (screenplay)
Andrew Shue - (story) &
Ken Himmelman - (story) &
Davis Guggenheim - (story)
Cast:
Jesse Lee Soffer - Johnny Bowen
Christopher Shand - Kyle Rhodes
Carly Schroeder - Grace Bowen
Karl Girolamo - Curt
Vasilios Mantagas - Craig
Donny Gray - Donny
Emma Bell - Kate Dorset
Dermot Mulroney - Bryan Bowen
Hunter Schroeder - Mike Bowen
Trevor Heins - Daniel Bowen
Music: Mark Isham
Posted on: May 18, 2008
June 9th, 2007
'Gracie' is a movie about a girl who gets on the varsity boys soccerteam after her brother, Johnny Bowen (Jesse Lee Soffer) who was theteam star, dies in a car accident. Based on an experience of the Shuefamily, it has Elizabeth Shue playing Gracie's mother and another Shue,Andrew, as Coach Clark. Gracie Bowen is played by Carly Schroeder, whoprojects energy and guts, as the role requires. Dermot Mulroney is herfather, Bryan Bowen, a former soccer player and a bit of a star in histime himself, but with childhood issues that give him some trouble as aparent. He has coached the family boys as if soccer, for all of them,has always been the only thing, while Gracie was protected butoverlooked. But the fact that she nails a shot, on a bet, with barefeet in the opening sequence shows she's got the potential to be a starherself. Her struggle to be accepted at a time when girls didn't playsoccer in America (this takes place in the late Seventies) is a way ofmoving forward when a kind of opening appears; it's also a chance forthe family to redeem itself and progressing beyond its grief.
'Gracie's' final trajectory leads (somewhat implausibly) to apredictable final big game triumph; but what makes the body of themovie different and good is its focus on training–the training,moreover, of a female athlete, and her endless struggle to proveherself. The story is more about the discipline of sport, the long hardprocess of conditioning, than the drama of games and wins. Gracie firsthas to convince her father to coach her despite his not unnaturalconcern that she isn't tough enough to play against boys. Her mothertells her she must be content as a girl with being second best. Shedoesn't buy that. Carly Schroeder makes Gracie's passion and convictionappear strong but never forced. Despite the ending this is, for once, asports film not so much about the dramatic play and the roar of thecrowd as it is about practice, practice, practice. The training is asclose up as we got in Robert Towne's excellent 1982 'Personal Best,'which starred Mariel Hemingway and was a landmark for its realisticcinematic treatment of a track and field competitor. Again, maybeinevitably, the lesbian issue comes up in 'Gracie' as it does moreprominently in 'Personal Best.' This time it appears only as a falsestereotype, but at one point even Gracie's very up-front best friendJena (Julia Garro) has doubts, while her sometime boyfriend, KyleRhodes (Christopher Shand), who wanted her for a long time but seemedhard to trust, indeed becomes an enemy at tryout time.
The movie's lessons have to do with a family unsure of itself acceptinglayers of grief, but the fresh image is of a young girl who can be atough and skillful athlete no matter what anybody thinks. Gracie mayget some of its depth and particularity from the involvement of theShue family. It's a family affair in more ways than one. DirectorGuggenheim is Elizabeth Shue's husband, and Carly Schroeder's brotherplays Gracie's younger brother Mike. The summer's American family filmsare rarely as unpretentious but solid as this one.
July 20th, 2007
Few films depict the texture of the time the late 60s & early 70s, andthe paradoxes of that age captured female teenagers. Thiscoming-of-age, while your family is in emotional tailspin does that andmuch more. I was ready for a soccer story-and 'feel good' film-butfound myself moved. Despite the fact that I find soccer boring, andquestion the intelligence behind many co-ed-by-law activities, I foundthis film engaging. It is more 'realistic' than the average filmbecause there are aspects in this film that everyone who has beenthrough-or is going through the teen years can relate to–and at manylevels. Though I don't normally notice the sound track: this one 'fit'the era to a "T" The movies have promoted myths about that era: noteveryone dwelt in the sexual license and drug use of the era-nor didevery dad worked for "Big Blue" and not every mom stayed home and hadher cocktails. This movie reflects most of the families I knew. Thisfilm captured our despairs and our fondest dreams in a human fashion -KUDOS!!!!
August 6th, 2007
I booked this film for my local theater during a soccer tournamentweekend. Having had good results in the past with Bend it Like Beckhamand Goal!, I expected good crowds for what I thought was going to be apretty good movie. This was not the case. This is more a coming of agefilm than a sports film and is definitely not appropriate forpre-teens. I was embarrassed to sit in the audience with my 11 year olddaughter and watch scenes of teen sex in autos and alleyways. Eventhough nothing was actually shown, the suggestive scenes were graphicenough to prompt me to have a conversation with my daughter aboutproper dating behavior.
Aside from my concerns about the appropriateness of the film forpre-teens, the characters were underdeveloped (e.g. no mention ordevelopment of the Dad's former soccer star status), there werecontinuity errors, such as using the word "suck" in an era when it wasnot used, and at least one half of the film was a complete downer. Somuch more could have been done with this story that should have felttriumphant, but didn't.
September 18th, 2007
Carly Schroeder has made, with this little film, perhaps the mostpure-hearted big screen debut I've ever seen. The only other movie Ican think of to rival this is "Whale Rider" and Keisha Castle-Hughesperformance. But I really think Carly has the edge here. It's as ifshe's plucked a dream out of the ether and made it palpable. It's whatthe great actresses do, and I'm betting this woman could easily outdoevery major name out there, given the chance. She's instantly likableand she transmits emotions through her face, voice, and body like shewas born to convince you of her champion heart.
This is not an easy role. It's quite physical and most women have adeep dislike for exercise and even competition. After all, women arelike dune buggies; men are like Mack trucks. But the truth is soccercan be played and won with finesse and heart, though it takes a specialsort. Someone who can bring a deft touch to her play just when sheshould be exhausted and beaten. And there's no question in my mind noneof the current crop of starlets would have struggled to do half the jobthat Carly does here. There are very few camera tricks that only implyphysicality in the direction, instead it's all there for real, in a waythat completely blew me away. These people believed in this film andit's paid off big time.
No, Hollywood is not quite as astute or clever as it thinks it is, soCarly's future can't be assured. But if there were ever a promisingbeginning, this is it. This is one beautifully acted and directed moviethat I'm very sorry I didn't see when it first came out. I've no ideawhy it's not rated higher here. With all the ugliness we have tocontend with, you'd think these armchair critics would be forced to leta breath of fresh air in. I'm guessing they're too far gone. I, on theother hand, think Carly has created, out of an impossibly pure andquite visible heart, one of the most memorable and believable femaleheroines I have ever seen.
September 19th, 2007
I watched this movie out of pure boredom, thinking it was some fluffyfamily friendly movie – but it was actually dark and engrossing. Thecover art for this movie really gives the wrong impression – thesunshine on the box never appears in the actually movie, and althoughthis movie is inspiring it manages to do it without the lollipops andflowers that one might expect. This film is more about a family as itcopes with tragedy and life in the 70's than it is about soccer, whichis a good thing! It has enough soccer content for those interested, butpeople who dislike sports movies have nothing to fear either. I willadmit there are a few sappy moments in this film, but luckily Gracie isno goody two shoes, and thus a more complex character. EXTRA BONUS -the sound track is excellent featuring Blondie.
September 21st, 2007
This was an embarrassment in film-making. I think it's great it's atrue story and all that, but you have to have GOOD ACTING, a goodscript, and something people actually want to watch! First off the girlthat played "Gracie" was one of the worst lead actresses I have everseen in a theatrically released movie. That's another point, how thismade it to theaters is beyond me. I would think that even the Lifetimechannel would have asked the producers to go back and fix it beforethey would even show it with their usually crappy movies. I realizethat this had to do with Elizabeth & Andrew Shue's childhood, but thatstill doesn't make a good movie. Now to even compare this terriblething with somewhat decent "Bend it Like Beckham" is totallyridiculous. Don't waste your time or anyone others with thissnooze-fest. The only reason this gets a little higher than it shouldget, is because Elizabeth his decent in her itty bitty part.