June 1, 2007 -- AT last, the incredible true story can be told: In high school, Elisabeth Shue s brother died in an accident, so she played soccer a lot. Considering that Gracie - starring Shue as her own mother and directed by her husband, Davis Guggenheim - says nothing that hasn t been said in dozens of films, one does wonder whether Hollywood is being as diligent as it could be in digging up fresh story ideas. What s the next Shuegenheim project in development, How I Like My Muffin Toasted: The Movie ?
The fictionalized title character (played by Carly Schroeder) is an athletic girl who, after her soccer-stud older brother dies in a car accident, decides she will carry on his legend by taking his place on the boys soccer team. The guy who tears your ticket at the door could write the story from here: She ll work hard, impress the team, score the big goal. Such are the foundations of sports flicks, but this one doesn t understand that you have to build something on top of it.
Guggenheim works up the usual training montage but finds that isn t enough to drag the movie to the 90-minute mark. So he adds another training montage. That still doesn t do the trick.
After a burst of inspiration, he brings in a third training montage. Soccer is made to look somewhat rougher than it is. Gracie gets treated approximately the same way Russell Crowe did in Gladiator, and newcomers to the sport might not realize that kicking rival players in the face is not actually allowed.
During the climax, when Gracie is brought on the field to save the day, the writers seem to have forgotten that she isn t even a member of the team. The genericness is utter, from the directing (heavy rain and heavy violins mean we re supposed to feel sad) to the dialogue ( You can do anything is the message, repeated several times) to the characters.
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