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Review #466 of 365
Movie Review of Gracie (2007) [PG-13] 95 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $9.00
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 4 June 2007
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: 18 September 2007 (click date to purchase)
Directed by: Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth)
Screenplay by: Lisa Marie Petersen ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit") and Karen Janszen (Duma)
Story by: Andrew Shue, Ken Himmelman, and Davis Guggenheim
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Christopher Shand (Return to Sleepaway Camp) • Carly Schroeder (Firewall) • Jesse Lee Soffer ("As the World Turns") • Dermot Mulroney (Georgia Rule) • Josh Barclay Caras (The Treatment) • Elisabeth Shue (Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story) • John Doman ("The Wire") • Andrew Shue ("Melrose Place") • Julia Garro (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints)
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
As the popularity for world's most popular sport known everywhere else as Football and in the USA as Soccer has grown by leaps and bounds, it seems all the more logical that brother / sister acting pair Andrew and Elisabeth Shue would utilize Elisabeth's husband, Davis Guggenheim (director of An Inconvenient Truth) to bring to the screen a story loosely based on their own family's history with soccer. The fictional story evolved from the real life events of the Shue family as it dealt with the tragic, accidental death of eldest brother William, a soccer player at the family alma mater, New Jersey's Columbia High School. In the film version, eldest brother, Johnny Bowen (Jesse Lee Soffer) endures a similar fate causing a cascade of depression and mourning in the Bowen household.
"… a film that's not as motivational or impacting as it could otherwise have been. "
Most effected are next in line sister, Grace (Carly Schroeder) and father, Bryan (Dermot Mulroney)—Grace because she so adored her older brother and longed to play soccer as well as he did and garner the same levels of attention as he did from their father, and Bryan because he had invested virtually all of his attention and love in his eldest son. The plot hits a lot of hot buttons: discrimination against women in sports, gender biases in USA families when it comes to raising children, coping with the loss of a child, grieving the loss of one child while not neglecting the others, battling cultural norms, and conquering one's own fear of failure. It is, quite literally, filled from the start with very good intentions. Not the least of which would be showcasing the skills of girls in soccer and the struggles women have faced historically in achieving parity in sports opportunities. The execution of the film, however, despite its creative team pedigree, was hindered by many detractors, not the least of which was the casting of Carly Schroeder in the lead role, but also included a "haven't we seen this story before" sense of déjà vu, somewhat wooden performances by Mr. Mulroney and Ms Shue, dry dialogue, and a needlessly smarmy performance by the film's chief antagonist, Christopher Shand, who plays the heir apparent to the soccer crown upon the demise of Johnny Bowen.
The plot is all too predictable. Unfortunately, these 'tragedy followed by championship victory' sports films all tend to go the same way just with different characters and minor alterations to the events. To make them work well, there must be more dimensions added to the story or the characters. We Are Marshall followed a similar route but commanded a far better result due to its focus on the impact of the tragedy on the entire town. In Gracie, the guys on Johnny's team seem to show little if any emotional response to the loss of their best player. They immediately start jockeying for position to take over his spot. The result left the event sitting out there in the cold. As for the writing, far too much of the dialogue lacks realism or emotional depth. The most memorable line in the film comes when mom, Lindsay Bowen (Elisabeth Shue) suggests to Grace that she should not limit herself as there will be plenty of people to do that for her.
Finally, the lackluster performances. The Shue family understands these characters, however the writers did not weave them deeply enough such that the actors had much with which to work in most cases: the mom, the little brothers, the coaches, and the other soccer players were all barely two-dimensional. The three dimensional characters of Kyle Rhodes (Christopher Shand), Bryan, and Grace though had different problems. Kyle Rhodes's character was needlessly repellent. The little cool guy who thinks he deserves to have everything given to him on a silver platter including Grace's virginity was just an awful character. Would he really start to try to land his fallen teammate's sister right after the funeral? Durmot Mulroney got a well-written and deep character, there's just one problem, he never cracks so that we can see what's really going on in side him. Well, that's not entirely true, he almost cracks at one point outside the girl's restroom when he says that "no one ever cared about him," when he was growing up. Otherwise, we have no clue what makes him tick. He cares meticulously for his catatonic father right town to crisply tying his shoes each morning, but this erstwhile moving man gives us no insight into his true pain. And then there's Gracie. Carly Shroeder was cast from 100s and 100s of young women to play the lead role. The character is an emotional mess. She wants to play soccer in Johnny's place and prove to the world she's good enough. When she doesn't get her way, rather than fight, she decides to become a world-class loser caring only about herself, her boyfriend, and making the lives of her parents miserable. Her emotional responses are entitled to be a little mixed up after the loss of her closest sibling, role model, big brother. Yet, her chain of events doesn't track very well. Is she up to it or not? Does she really comprehend the magnitude of what she's trying ot accomplish? It's unclear. Part of this stems form Carly Schroeder's interpretations of the character and eventually her lack of real physical presence in the role. She never does look quite tough enough to play on a high school boys varsity soccer team—not that one would expect her to look like a female body builder or something. But, she never looks strong. At one point, when Bryan aggress to finally coach Grace, he tells her that playing soccer is more mental than physical, which is true. Carly Shcroeder never really brings either to the character. She doesn't seem physically nor mentally geared up to the challenge of this role, which is the film's biggest problem.
On the whole, the film has good points to make, and certainly this was an intensely family experience for the Shues. The deserve credit for opening up their personal lives in this way, and for making a film to showcase these issues. Unfortunately, the overall effect is a film that's not as motivational or impacting as it could otherwise have been.
The plot is all too predictable. Unfortunately, these 'tragedy followed by championship victory' sports films all tend to go the same way just with different characters and minor alterations to the events. To make them work well, there must be more dimensions added to the story or the characters. We Are Marshall followed a similar route but commanded a far better result due to its focus on the impact of the tragedy on the entire town. In Gracie, the guys on Johnny's team seem to show little if any emotional response to the loss of their best player. They immediately start jockeying for position to take over his spot. The result left the event sitting out there in the cold. As for the writing, far too much of the dialogue lacks realism or emotional depth. The most memorable line in the film comes when mom, Lindsay Bowen (Elisabeth Shue) suggests to Grace that she should not limit herself as there will be plenty of people to do that for her.
Well, that and a comment about a certain kind of nasty sandwich that life tends to serve people that we must just sometimes go ahead and take a bite of.
Elisabeth Shue Buy From Art.com
Finally, the lackluster performances. The Shue family understands these characters, however the writers did not weave them deeply enough such that the actors had much with which to work in most cases: the mom, the little brothers, the coaches, and the other soccer players were all barely two-dimensional. The three dimensional characters of Kyle Rhodes (Christopher Shand), Bryan, and Grace though had different problems. Kyle Rhodes's character was needlessly repellent. The little cool guy who thinks he deserves to have everything given to him on a silver platter including Grace's virginity was just an awful character. Would he really start to try to land his fallen teammate's sister right after the funeral? Durmot Mulroney got a well-written and deep character, there's just one problem, he never cracks so that we can see what's really going on in side him. Well, that's not entirely true, he almost cracks at one point outside the girl's restroom when he says that "no one ever cared about him," when he was growing up. Otherwise, we have no clue what makes him tick. He cares meticulously for his catatonic father right town to crisply tying his shoes each morning, but this erstwhile moving man gives us no insight into his true pain. And then there's Gracie. Carly Shroeder was cast from 100s and 100s of young women to play the lead role. The character is an emotional mess. She wants to play soccer in Johnny's place and prove to the world she's good enough. When she doesn't get her way, rather than fight, she decides to become a world-class loser caring only about herself, her boyfriend, and making the lives of her parents miserable. Her emotional responses are entitled to be a little mixed up after the loss of her closest sibling, role model, big brother. Yet, her chain of events doesn't track very well. Is she up to it or not? Does she really comprehend the magnitude of what she's trying ot accomplish? It's unclear. Part of this stems form Carly Schroeder's interpretations of the character and eventually her lack of real physical presence in the role. She never does look quite tough enough to play on a high school boys varsity soccer team—not that one would expect her to look like a female body builder or something. But, she never looks strong. At one point, when Bryan aggress to finally coach Grace, he tells her that playing soccer is more mental than physical, which is true. Carly Shcroeder never really brings either to the character. She doesn't seem physically nor mentally geared up to the challenge of this role, which is the film's biggest problem.
On the whole, the film has good points to make, and certainly this was an intensely family experience for the Shues. The deserve credit for opening up their personal lives in this way, and for making a film to showcase these issues. Unfortunately, the overall effect is a film that's not as motivational or impacting as it could otherwise have been.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Gracie (2007)
Cast Members
Christopher Shand
• Carly Schroeder • Jesse Lee SofferDermot Mulroney
• Josh Caras • Elisabeth ShueJohn Doman
• Andrew Shue • Julia GarroDirector
Davis Guggenheim
Co-Writers
Lisa Marie Petersen
• Karen Janszen| DVD | VHS | |
| Related Book | Relate Book | Related Book |
Gracie (2007) Review-lite [150-word cap]
An intensely personal experience for sibling actors Elisabeth and Andrew Shue, Gracie, attempts to capture the sense of their own lives after the tragic loss of their eldest brother, William, a Columbia High School soccer star. Unfortunately, the writing and casting blended poorly reducing the picture to an incongruous mélange of displaced and misplaces emotions on the cusp of a corner kick that must go in to ensure success for women in the sport of soccer. Young actress, Carly Schroeder, who was given the leading role, never seems quite up to the challenge of endowing Grace with the mental and physical toughness necessary to achieve the character's true goals. A far cry from last year's excellent We Are Marshall, this film fails also to distance itself from now all too common films about people overcoming tragedies in sports.
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