>>REVIEW
GRACIE
STARRING Carly Schroeder, Dermot Mulroney and Elizabeth Shue
DIRECTED BY Davis Guggenheim
Opens Friday, June 22
The Globe
The "based on real events" sports story movie is a tale as old as time, with themes well-known to movie audiences. There are many examples in this genre that have taken a big dose of heart and a little originality and made what is old, suddenly new. Unfortunately, soccer film Gracie has none of the charm, heart or intensity that makes for a good sports flick.
Allegedly based on producer/star Elizabeth Shue’s life, the film is flat, flimsy and boring. Set in 1978 middle class New Jersey, Gracie has all the hallmarks of the well-known sports formula. Gracie Bowen (played by Lizzie McGuire’s Carly Schroeder) is the lone girl in a family of soccer-obsessed boys. When her brother, who also happens to be the only one who believes in her, dies in a car accident, Gracie vows to fight against the naysayers and take his place on the all boys team.
What follows is exactly what you think will happen – Dad doesn’t believe in her, the school team doesn’t believe in her, followed by dad then believing in her and eventually the school as well. In the end, as predicted, Gracie leads the team to victory in the 11th hour in a disappointingly anti-climactic scene. The film’s inspiration is really the key issue working against this film. If this was Shue’s labour of love based on her own experiences, then why does she look so uninspired and uninterested (Note to Shue: when developing your own project, develop yourself a better role).
Co-produced by her brother Andrew, and directed by her husband Davis Guggenheim, it is easy to see how this may have been a case of calling in a favour. After all, this is the man who directed An Inconvenient Truth. Nothing in this film belies the same style and elegance of his previous endeavour.
Inherently, there is nothing wrong with this film. It is kind of sweet, has a nice ending and is well made. Although it might seem heartless to criticize a film that clearly tries to keep its heart in the right place, a paint-by-numbers formula makes it unworthy of the price of admission. Instead of exploring the history and context of high school female athletes, the film simply latches on to a loose concept and tells it in broad, ambiguous strokes. |
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