My title says it all. Imagine 70 year old Rodney Dangerfield coaching a girls soccer team. He plays a mid level Denver sales executive Chester Lee who, anxious to persuade his fiancé Julie Benson (Jackee Lee) to marry him, persuades his boss and CEO to link successful coaching of his 14 year old daughter Kimberley's (Vinessa Shaw) girls soccer team to a promotion. Julie's 14 year old son Matthew (Jonathan Brandis) happens to be a sports whizz and a good soccer player. Chester begs for his help, something a cool teen still not comfortable with his soon-to-be stepfather would avoid and so Mathew defers.....until he spies Kimberley and falls in love. Chester is a useless soccer coach and the girls are inept and uncoordinated so Matthew agrees to dress up as a girl (Martha) and he leads the girls to great success due to his soccer prowess. Trouble is he's in love with Kimberley and she wants to be Martha's best friend. You can imagine the complex needle Matthew must thread.
So the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. First the Good. This movie does make it to 6 but only because Rodney Dangerfield, as the epic comic he was, peppers the movie with his trademark one liners SOME of which were funny. And also, Jonathan Brandis, leading in his 2nd movie in his 15th year (the other was Sidekicks), was beginning to show that his eventual mid 90's fame as a teen heartthrob was more than just because of his blond haired/blue eyed pretty boy looks, he was a genuinely excellent and authentic teen actor.
So the Bad? Whilst Brandis at this age did look pretty feminine and was slightly built, there's no way a 15 year old boy with a broken voice, leg hair and no breasts is going to look remotely convincing as a girl of the same age by just throwing a dress on. Brandis, in various scenes, doesn't disguise his adolescent voice so believability of this crucial part of the plot line was poor. Also, the greater strength and aggression of a teen boy soccer player clearly stood out and would've been the subject of intense other coach/parent scrutiny. That not a single opposing player, coach or parent didn't notice and challenge this severely dents the storyline.
The Ugly? For a child/teen movie, it was laced with a considerable number of adult-like sexual innuendos with two scenes that really beggar belief that the producers and directors thought that they were appropriate to include especially back in 1992 when the movie was released. And finally, the notion of an entire baseball team of early teen boys all cross dressing as girls, was unthinkable back then.
So the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. First the Good. This movie does make it to 6 but only because Rodney Dangerfield, as the epic comic he was, peppers the movie with his trademark one liners SOME of which were funny. And also, Jonathan Brandis, leading in his 2nd movie in his 15th year (the other was Sidekicks), was beginning to show that his eventual mid 90's fame as a teen heartthrob was more than just because of his blond haired/blue eyed pretty boy looks, he was a genuinely excellent and authentic teen actor.
So the Bad? Whilst Brandis at this age did look pretty feminine and was slightly built, there's no way a 15 year old boy with a broken voice, leg hair and no breasts is going to look remotely convincing as a girl of the same age by just throwing a dress on. Brandis, in various scenes, doesn't disguise his adolescent voice so believability of this crucial part of the plot line was poor. Also, the greater strength and aggression of a teen boy soccer player clearly stood out and would've been the subject of intense other coach/parent scrutiny. That not a single opposing player, coach or parent didn't notice and challenge this severely dents the storyline.
The Ugly? For a child/teen movie, it was laced with a considerable number of adult-like sexual innuendos with two scenes that really beggar belief that the producers and directors thought that they were appropriate to include especially back in 1992 when the movie was released. And finally, the notion of an entire baseball team of early teen boys all cross dressing as girls, was unthinkable back then.