'Gracie'

It wasn't always that way -- and "Gracie" is a heartfelt reminder of that. Sure, there were gymnastic, field hockey, tennis and badminton teams, but no girls' soccer in the late 1970s. Just no interest, a New Jersey school claimed.

But 15-year-old Gracie Bowen (Carly Schroeder) had an interest. A burning obsession to play, particularly after her adored older brother, Johnny, dies in an auto accident. He had been a standout on his high school team and Gracie's protector.

Her soccer-obsessed father (Dermot Mulroney), who works for a moving company loading and unloading household goods, and school-nurse mother (Elisabeth Shue) are devastated, as are Gracie and her younger brothers. When Gracie announces her plan for the next season, "I'm gonna play and dad's gonna train me," her younger brothers giggle. Her father later declares that she's not tough enough, predicting, "They're gonna cream you.

" Her mother tells her not everything is possible. After Gracie starts to spin out of control, her father comes around although there's no guarantee the school will allow her to try out for the boys' team or that she will be picked or given the opportunity to actually play. Her best friend, taking the teen temperature of the time, warns Gracie people are talking.

"You're committing social suicide." "Gracie" was inspired by the Shue family, a soccer dynasty that lost its oldest son, 26-year-old Will, in an accident in 1988. The timing and circumstances are somewhat different in that future actress Elisabeth was the only girl playing soccer in South Orange and Maplewood, N.

J., from ages 9 to 13. And since their father captained his college team in 1958, they likely weren't living the same blue-collar existence.

The Shues divorced and money became tight, Elisabeth has told interviewers. Realizing that's at the center of this movie makes it resonate in a way it might not otherwise, and the presence of Elisabeth as the mother and brother Andrew Shue as a coach helps tremendously, too. "Gracie" is a portrait of perseverance and survival and a reminder that if you were going to play with the boys back then, you had to take their hits, both physical and emotional.

One delivers a blow that made a woman in my row involuntarily rise out of her seat. Davis Guggenheim, Oscar-winning director of "An Inconvenient Truth" and husband of Elisabeth, directs "Gracie." He makes excellent use of 1970s songs by Bruce Springsteen (not on the soundtrack CD), Boston, Blondie, Edgar Winter and others.

"Gracie" is bolstered by its back story and by Schroeder, once a fixture on "General Hospital" and more recently Harrison Ford's daughter in "Firewall" and part of the "Mean Creek" ensemble. But, in addition to barely acknowledging a disabled grandparent who shares the family home, it follows the inspirational-underdog-against all odds sports formula. That's not a bad thing, especially when girls realize there was a time when they could aspire to be nurses but not doctors, or field hockey players but not soccer forwards.

And the closing credits bring photos of the Shues, including Will, in their sunny soccer glory. (Post-Gazette movie editor Barbara Vancheri can be reached at or 412-263-1632.