Review: Guys and Balls

The one-two punch of the film’s script-in-a-can and 80% of the cast’s negative mindset is difficult to overcome with a last-second goal.

Guys and Balls
Photo: Regent Releasing

Having seen Wet Hot American Summer, it’s impossible to take any film seriously that follows the formula “lovable band of misfits undergoes wacky training montage to come back and beat the evil team.” If Shaolin Soccer isn’t your cup of tea, there aren’t really options when it comes to defying the convention, and throwing in other clichés and stereotypes (in this case, nice gay men beset on all sides by evil homophobes) certainly isn’t going to help matters. That’s precisely where Guys and Balls finds itself, as awkward as it sounds—juxtaposed between the predictability of Bad News Bears and the camp tag of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (its title is all it needs for that).

Guys and Balls outs Ecki (Maximilian Brückner) quickly, placing him clumsily on top of a teammate after blowing a loss that keeps his hometown team in the B-league for yet another season. The die is cast quickly and Ecki is sent off to Dortmund to find 10 other gay soccer players to take on his former team. His cohorts cover the spectrum of zaniness and Ecki even gets a romantic interest, bringing the film ever closer to Bend It Like Beckham. A trio of leather enthusiasts and an unsurprising David Beckham admirer keep the laughs going regularly, though, even with some disturbing undercurrents.

The inherent problem is that, even if the gay team wins in the end, they’re still treated as inferior for most of the film. It’s bad enough when geeks or losers get such treatment, but singling out people already in a struggle with homophobia in the sports world (just ask Esera Tuaolo), even in “good fun,” affixes a malevolent undertone that is likely more realistic than the comedy might intend. It’s to director Sherry Hormann’s credit that the players themselves start off with talent, but the one-two punch of the film’s script-in-a-can and 80% of the cast’s negative mindset is difficult to overcome with a last-second goal.

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Score: 
 Cast: Maximilian Brückner, Lisa Maria Potthoff, Dietmar Baer, Saskia Vester, Rolf Zacher, Mariele Millowitsch, David Rott, Christian Berkel, Charly Hubner, Markus John, Andreas Schmidt, Hans Lowe  Director: Sherry Hormann  Screenwriter: Benedikt Gollhardt  Distributor: here! Films, Regent Releasing  Running Time: 102 min  Rating: R  Year: 2004  Buy: Video

Brian Schiller

Brian Schiller is a physical science technician from Virginia Beach, Virginia.

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