AfterElton.com - Review of Guys and Balls

Find Articles On:

TV Shows:

Extras:

Review of Guys and Balls
by Malinda Lo, June 20, 2005

Sports movies tend to follow a tried-and-true formula that involves an unlikely cast of heroes, ninth-inning drama, and the underdog who amazingly manages to pull through at the last minute. Romantic comedies, too, have their conventions: an early meet cute that quickly blossoms into romance, followed by a disagreement leading to a temporary separation, climaxing with an inevitable sappy reunion.

Guys and Balls, a gay romantic comedy from Germany set in the world of amateur soccer, scores on all points (including the title). This comedic tale of an intrepid group of gay soccer players, directed by Sherry Horman, is warm-hearted and humorous, poking just the right amount of fun at the German leather scene, coming out, and falling in love.

Ecki (Maximilian Brucker), a young blond tousle-headed pretzel-maker living outside of the German industrial city of Dortmund (think Pittsburgh), loves soccer so much that he’s been playing in the local leagues since childhood. But during one game he fails to defend the goal, and his team loses. As a result, Ecki is ostracized by his teammates, and when they discover him kissing another man, they throw him off the team despite his lifelong devotion to the sport.

In retaliation, Ecki vows to put together a gay soccer team and challenges his old team to a game in a month’s time. Then Ecki packs his belongings and heads for his sister Susanne’s place in Dortmund. Susanne (Lisa Maria Pothoff) is a nurse in a hospital maternity ward, and though she is taken aback when he comes out to her, she quickly accepts him and his harebrained scheme of putting together a gay soccer team within a month.

Ecki and Susanne then embark on a hilarious quest to find gay soccer players in Dortmund. They first visit a local bookstore, where Ecki picks up a gay bar guide, and then they visit a string of gay bars ranging from a fashionable dandified beer garden to a forbidding BDSM “strictly gay” leather club. Ecki rounds up a ragtag team consisting of a trio of leather men, a David Beckham fan, a closeted straight man, and a cute blond nurse named Sven (David Rott).

The team practices on an abandoned soccer field owned by a former soccer star who has sunk into an alcoholic depression, but as the gay team takes over his field, he slowly perks back into life. By the time the team is ready to play Ecki’s old team, he’s cheering them on as their reluctant but hard-headed coach. Meanwhile, Ecki falls in love with—you guessed it—the cute blond nurse, Sven. Their romance is both sweet and convincing.

Movies that follow strict formulas can often be tiresome or boring, but Guys and Balls manages to tell a familiar tale-with-a-twist with deftness and humor. Director Sherry Horman gives the story a light touch and manages to make a well-known formula funny, sincere, and entertaining. Maximilian Brucker is adorable as the determined soccer player Ecki, and Lisa Maria Pothoff does a great job with her limited role as his supportive sister.

Despite a somewhat weak subplot involving the leather men, overall Guys and Balls is an enjoyable romp, even for people who don’t love soccer.

Guys and Balls screens at the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival on June 21, at the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival on July 9 and 13, and at Outfest in Los Angeles on July 14.