Entertainment writer Sophia M. Papadopolous caught an early preview of Gracie, to be released this Friday, June 1st. Here is an excerpt from her review. Click here to read the full review and movie trivia.In a time when women’s soccer did not exist, Gracie Bowen (Carly Schroeder) a 15 year old teenager from New Jersey finds herself fighting for her right to play on an all boys varsity soccer team. Taking place in 1978, when women are still fighting for their rights and trying to prove that they too are just as smart and able-bodied as men, Gracie proves to herself and to all those who doubt her that she can handle this intensely physical “male sport.” Growing up in a household with three soccer obsessed brothers and a father (Dermot Mulroney) who thinks soccer isn’t a girl’s sport, Gracie not only struggles to find her place in a male dominated household, she also has to prove to her toughest critic [her father] that she too can play just as hard and rough as the boys.
When her older brother and star of the high school soccer team dies in a tragic car accident, Gracie and her family are distraught over the loss. Her only confidant and protector is now gone, but she will not allow his memory and his dream to die with him. Wanting to prove her skills and win the nationals for the team, Gracie petitions the school to allow her to take the place of her brother on the soccer team. After many discouraging comments from the coach, the guys on the team, and her own father’s skewed view of her abilities as a girl, she wins them over with her un-dying determination and commitment. Her father, a past star high school soccer player himself, begins to steadily come around, as he starts training her just as hard as he trained her brother.
This film demonstrated that woman can in fact do anything men can do, even though our patriarchic society does not seem to think so. It also demonstrated how hard women have had to fight to be heard and seen as equals. This movie was a great testament that women’s abilities are not determined by their bodies, but by their intellectual strength, courage, and will to strive. We too can fight like the “Big Boys,” on and off the field!
