“GUYS AND BALLS”–soccer satire

“Guys and Balls”

Soccer Satire

Amos Lassen

Sweet, dear Ecki works in his family’s bakery and lives in the closet. He is also the goalie on his town’s soccer team. When his team loses the big team and Ecki is discovered flirting with another player, his teammates throw him off of the team. It then becomes his goal to form an all gay team that will be a threat to all of the “heteros” on the soccer field. With his sister as his helping hand, he scours the bars and finally assembles the wildest team ever seen on a playing field. There is a threesome of leather “daddies”, a lovely queen, and a straight guy who lusts for an adorable nurse. When this team comes together to play the final game, the straight team has to deal with the fabulosity it has never seen before. You root for and laugh at the team—the movie makes you cheer.

The ragtag team is determined to show that “sistahs” can play ball every bit as wonderfully as its straight counterpart. In attempting to create the tea, we have one of the funniest comedies we have ever had, Yet the movie is not camp as it easily could have been, Gay sensibility is glaringly missing but that does not stop one from having a good time. There are great one liners but there is also a lot of “shtick”.

If any of you have noticed, sports have become a topic for gay film recently probably because there are so few openly gay professional athletes. Ecki’s French kissing another guy is the catalyst that gets the story going and once it starts, there is no turning back. The team is amazing—there is the Turkish waiter who dreams of soccer great Beckham, the thin soccer player who in reality is a girl, two very sexy Brazilians and a straight bookseller who is the nelliest of the group. Then there is the threesome of leather “daddies” who Ecki found at a bar in the dungeon and Sven, a male nurse, whom Ecki has a crush on but who feels that Ecki has built this team for personal vengeance. The former star coach of the team may not be homophobic but surely is alcoholic. With a team like this, we are bound to have a few hearty guffaws.

The stakes are high as the guys take to the field for

their final game. Soccer fans are fanatical in Germany andEcki knows that it is this game which can give him back the respect he yearns for as well as his place as an athlete.

The movie does not preach or espouse. It has one purpose and that is to entertain. The ensemble cast turns in wonderful performances even if there is not anything really new here. It is simply a film to enjoy and to make you feel good. Some of it is old hat but so what? It’sgreat fun and isn’t that what really matters?

One reviewer that I read stated that the movie has nothing going for—it’s in German so it has subtitles, it is about a tired story and it is full of cliché but “this jubilant, exhilarating film works…It is a big, fat fantastic crowd pleaser”. It is classy and witty, fresh and engaging and it makes us laugh. What a joy!