Gracie (film)
| Gracie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Davis Guggenheim |
| Written by | Lisa Marie Petersen and Karen Janszen (screenplay) Andrew Shue & Davis Guggenheim (story) |
| Produced by | Andrew Shue |
| Starring | Elisabeth Shue Carly Schroeder Dermot Mulroney |
| Music by | Mark Isham |
| Distributed by | Picturehouse Entertainment |
Release dates | June 1, 2007 |
| Language | English |
Gracie is an American film that was released in the United States on June 1, 2007. It is a family drama and "Bend It Like Beckham-esque tale"[1] about a teenage girl who overcomes the loss of her brother and fights the odds to achieve her dream of playing competitive soccer at a time, before Title IX's pervasive influence[1], when girls’ soccer did not exist.
The film was inspired by events in the lives of the Shue family. Elisabeth Shue played a role inspired by her mother, Andrew Shue produced the film and had a small role, younger brother John helped raise the finances, and it was directed by Davis Guggenheim, Elisabeth's husband.[2]
The film is set in 1978 and features a 1970s soundtrack including songs from Boston, Blondie, Aretha Franklin, and Bruce Springsteen.
Cast
- Elisabeth Shue as Lindsay Bowen
- Carly Schroeder as Gracie Bowen
- Andrew Shue as Coach Owen Clark
- Dermot Mulroney as Bryan Bowen
- Jessee Lee Soffer as Johnny Bowen
Further Cast
- Trevor Heins - Daniel Bowen
- Karl Girolamo - Curt
- Christopher Shand - Kyle Rhodes
- Emma Bell - Kate Dorset [3]
Plot
Living in South Orange, New Jersey, 15 year old Gracie Bowen (Carly Schroeder) is the only girl in a family of three brothers. Their family life revolves almost entirely around soccer: her father (Dermot Mulroney) and brothers are obsessed with the sport, practicing in the backyard's makeshift field every day from morning until night. Tragedy unexpectedly strikes when Gracie's older brother Johnny (Jesse Lee Soffer), star of the high school varsity soccer team (and a character based on the Shue's older brother William, who was captain of the Columbia High School soccer team that won the New Jersey state championship in 1978[1]), is killed in a car accident.
Struggling with grief over her family's loss, Gracie decides to fill the void left on her brother's team by petitioning the school board to allow her to play on the boy's high school varsity soccer team in his place. Her father, a former soccer star himself, tries to prove to Gracie that she is not tough enough or talented enough to play with boys. Her mother, Lindsey Bowen (Elisabeth Shue) already an outsider in the sports-obsessed family, is no help either. Undeterred, Gracie finds reserves of strength she never knew existed, and persists in changing everyone's beliefs in what she is capable of, including her own. Gracie not only forces her father to wake up from his grief and see her as the beautiful and strong person that she has always been but she also brings her family together in the face of their tragedy.
Although the film was motivated by the family's history, Elisabeth Shue, the inspiration for the film's title character, actually quit soccer as a teenager:
- “The movie is really what would have happened if I hadn’t quit. I quit because of what people would think of me. The pressure from the boys. The awkward development of my body. I really, really regret it. I wish I’d been brave enough.”[1]
Production
The title role was cast after an extensive search promoted with its own website, http://findinggracie.com/ (archived versions from 2004-2006).[4]
Awards
Gracie receives the Truly Moving Picture Award , as a film that celebrates the human condition and the positive aspects of life. Hence, Gracie is considered as a movie that can move you to laughter, to tears, to make a difference and offer heartfelt visions of life that are as hopeful as they are entertaining. Source: Heartland Truly Moving Pictures
Response
Entertainment Weekly gave it a "C" (using its letter grading system) and called Gracie "as processed as an after-school special" with an ending that "in its Pavlovian sports-flick way, pumps you up."[5] The A.V. Club graded it a "B", saying "though Gracie fashions Shue's story into ready-made inspirational formula, it's nonetheless vivid in its particulars, from the looks and sounds of late-'70s New Jersey to the portrait of a soccer-driven family reformed by loss."[6]
Lael Loewenstein called the film "an earnest, well-acted, poignant drama that nevertheless runs afoul of sports movie clichés."[7]
References
- ^ a b c d A Star’s (Pre-Celebrity) Turn on the Soccer Field from The New York Times
- ^ Andrew Shue, Actor/Producer, from the Heartland Truly Moving Picture website
- ^ [1] Gracie Preview at BeenTotheMovies.com
- ^ Shue Business, an April 2005 article from the Entertainment Weekly website
- ^ Review of Gracie from Entertainment Weekly
- ^ Review of Gracie from The A.V. Club
- ^ Review of Gracie from the Los Angeles Times
External links
