I am a fan of women's football, So, i was excited to learn about and to be able to see this movie on a recent Air France flight.
And, while it's an interesting way to pass the time, ultimately it has many very serious deficiencies.
For one, the movie never quite can decide if it's supposed to be a comedy or not. So, the tone of the film careens between melodramatic and comedic randomly. Which maybe would be ok if it were pulled off with more skill, but alas this movie just wasn't. It just comes off as disjointed.
It further compounds this by not being able to decide how much it needs to stick to historical accuracy and how much dramatic license it has. At one pivotal moment, there is an opportunity for a neat dramatic resolution - the founding coach is embroiled in sex scandal and doesn't know much about football. The father of the main female character is an ex footballer has just basically come to agree that his daughter can play on the team - if the movie were interested in dramatic resolution, the experienced father would take over as coach. But, in this case, i guess, history was stuck to and the founding coach muddles through.
The entire character arc of the main coach is unbelievable. He starts out as a cad and transforms almost instantly into a progressive. The idea of a women's football team is mocked as preposterous but then once the team is founded they somehow find other womens' teams to play. The women's team goes from hopeless amateurs to being able to beat a seasoned and serious team of boys in their first game - as in, during their first game. the team is so desperate for players that they bring on a housewife who can barely run and yet this team becomes world-beaters with her onboard (no matter how nascent women's pro football was at the time, this is insulting in its cartoonishness).
The characters largely come accross as unbelievable. Its just kind of disjointed. But, as I said, for all its flaws, it kind of flows.
A more interesting story would have focused on the "unofficial" 1971 women's world cup. The actors are probably not to blame for the failures of this movie so much as the script and the direction which was never quite sure what it was after.
And, while it's an interesting way to pass the time, ultimately it has many very serious deficiencies.
For one, the movie never quite can decide if it's supposed to be a comedy or not. So, the tone of the film careens between melodramatic and comedic randomly. Which maybe would be ok if it were pulled off with more skill, but alas this movie just wasn't. It just comes off as disjointed.
It further compounds this by not being able to decide how much it needs to stick to historical accuracy and how much dramatic license it has. At one pivotal moment, there is an opportunity for a neat dramatic resolution - the founding coach is embroiled in sex scandal and doesn't know much about football. The father of the main female character is an ex footballer has just basically come to agree that his daughter can play on the team - if the movie were interested in dramatic resolution, the experienced father would take over as coach. But, in this case, i guess, history was stuck to and the founding coach muddles through.
The entire character arc of the main coach is unbelievable. He starts out as a cad and transforms almost instantly into a progressive. The idea of a women's football team is mocked as preposterous but then once the team is founded they somehow find other womens' teams to play. The women's team goes from hopeless amateurs to being able to beat a seasoned and serious team of boys in their first game - as in, during their first game. the team is so desperate for players that they bring on a housewife who can barely run and yet this team becomes world-beaters with her onboard (no matter how nascent women's pro football was at the time, this is insulting in its cartoonishness).
The characters largely come accross as unbelievable. Its just kind of disjointed. But, as I said, for all its flaws, it kind of flows.
A more interesting story would have focused on the "unofficial" 1971 women's world cup. The actors are probably not to blame for the failures of this movie so much as the script and the direction which was never quite sure what it was after.