voyager1-3 Review of Alley Cats Strike

Alley Cats Strike (2000 TV Movie)

Good storyline, keeps your interest

[13 June 2002]

SOME SPOILERS! This movie is about learning to understand--even accept--other peoples' point of view and working together for a common cause regardless of any remaining differences. As the movie progresses different examples of how to do this are shown, such as Alex going to a party by Todd's friends that he wouldn't normally attend, accompanying Todd to get decorations for the bowling hall, and getting a truce between his team members and Todd for the remaining days until the contest. Todd rallies his friends to revive the bowling hall. Alex and his friends learn to have a positive, winning attitude, and Todd learns about style and playing for fun without the pressure to win at all costs, and yielding to a better performer when it counts. One great example that might get overlooked occurs about twenty minutes from the beginning: in the bowling hall Todd mentions the rumour that Alex got his clothes in the alley behind the hall. Instead of getting mad, Alex handles this with humor, poking even more fun at himself, saying he got them from a <catalog> he found in the alley, and Todd's "Whatever..." shows he gets the humor, and the confrontation is defused, rather than escalating. Reality check: it's true that this only works if the accuser accepts the humor, but when it works you can feel the reduction in tension. As Dexter says in "The Cure" (ties for #1 with "On Golden Pond" in my list), "It's worth a try."