"THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES" (2005) (Gerard Butler, Wes Bentley) (PG) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Moderate Minor Heavy Mild Minor Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Minor None None None Mild Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Minor Moderate Minor Moderate Mild QUICK TAKE: Drama: With little time, money or support, an American team of soccer amateurs tries to prepare for the 1950 World Cup and their match with the favored British team. PLOT: Dent McSkimming (PATRICK STEWART) is an older, dignified man who once covered an unlikely sports story decades earlier. As he tells his tale, we travel back to 1950 where Dent (TERRY KINNEY) is a local sports reporter in St. Louis, Missouri. In a local Italian-American neighborhood, soccer is hot, with friends and fellow WWII vets Frank Borghi (GERARD BUTLER), Pee Wee Wallace (JAY RODAN), Gino Pariani (LOUIS MANDYLOR) and Charley "Gloves" Columbo (COSTAS MANDYLOR) always getting together to play another team of locals comprised of players like Harry Keough (ZACHERY TY BRYAN). Accordingly, the men are elated when they hear that the tryouts for the American soccer team in the 1950 World Cup will be held in their backyard. With coach Bill Jeffrey (JOHN RHYS-DAVIES) looking on, Frank -- the group's unofficial leader and team goalie -- realizes that another player, Walter Bahr (WES BENTLEY), from the east coast appears to be heavily involved in the team's selection. Despite such matters, the team is finally assembled, and sets off for a few scant days of practice in New York before heading to Brazil for their first match. With the addition of Haitian born dishwasher Joe Gaetjens (JIMMY JEAN-LOUIS), the amateur players try to overcome their various differences and form a team, all while dealing with little time, money or public interest in their match that will pit them against the heavily favored, professional British squad. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? If they're into soccer or are fans of someone in the cast, they might. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG For some mild language and thematic elements. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: GERARD BUTLER plays the team's goalie and WWII vet who doesn't want to stay in the family undertaker business and instead joins Walter in getting their team ready for match play. He drinks some. JAY RODAN plays his good friend, another player who smokes, drinks, is afraid of flying, and initially doesn't like Walter and his belief that he's the team's unofficial coach. LOUIS MANDYLOR plays another player and recent newlywed who's fixated on the team getting their uniforms before the matches begin. He smokes cigars several times and puts down Joe's religious beliefs until he's enlightened about them. JIMMY JEAN-LOUIS plays the talented Haitian born player who gives up his NYC dishwashing job to join the squad. COSTAS MANDYLOR plays another player who often gets physical with opposing players and drinks some. WES BENTLEY plays an east coast player who's the unofficial leader of the squad and is all business about them practicing and then competing in the World Cup. JOHN RHYS-DAVIES plays the team's coach who isn't much of that to them as he's barely around and mostly allows Walter and Frank to call the shots. PATRICK STEWART and TERRY KINNEY play different aged versions of the sports reporter who covers the team and their match in the World Cup. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this PG-rated drama. Profanity consists of a number of mild expletives, while various colorful phrases are also uttered. Various characters smoke and/or drink (with some appearing a bit tipsy and one purposefully drinking some substance to make him loopy rather than scared on a plane flight) and varying degrees of bad attitudes are present. There's some purposeful and accidental contact during soccer matches, while a turbulent plane flight might be unnerving for those afraid of flying. Some men ogle a woman as she passes by, and a dead body is seen in a casket in a funeral home. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those concerned with flashes of light on the screen, there are some flashes of lighting on a plane during a thunderstorm. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Some players drink from a large glass bottle that looks like a liquor bottle, but since they do so both after and during games (including one pouring its contents over his head), one can assume it's just water. Frank, Gino and Pee Wee drink beer and they all later appear to be drunk or at least tipsy. Frank tells Pee Wee his plan for getting the latter on a plane to Brazil -- that they get "loaded" before they get on. Miscellaneous people have wine. Some players have beer in a hotel lobby. Some of the players head off to get some drinks. Some of the players have champagne during a luncheon. Frank states that he doesn't think booze is going to be enough to get Pee Wee (who's afraid of flying) on a plane. One of the guys wants Joe to get a "mickey" (knockout drug) to give Pee Wee so that he can fly on a plane without being nervous. Later, Frank offers Pee Wee his flask and tells him to drink from it. Pee Wee willingly does so only after Frank admits that there's something in there for that purpose. Later, Pee Wee is giddy if somewhat dazed on the plane (even during some bad turbulence). Some of the players have beer. Miscellaneous people drink, including some of the players who drinks shots. BLOOD/GORE We briefly see a body in a casket at a funeral home. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Some of the players -- serving as pallbearers -- have a bad attitude at a funeral, with one saying for them to get the "stiff" in the ground since they have a soccer game to play. Pee Wee puts an unlit cigar into his mouth during a funeral service at church. A man comments that some other men "play like a bunch of girls." Gloves purposefully knocks down Walter during a tryout. Some of the guys playfully ogle a pretty woman as she passes by. In turn, she calls the Italian-Americans "meatball." Pee Wee initially has a bad attitude toward Walter, resenting the fact that Walter seems to be taking charge of the team. He then says that he doesn't like taking orders "from a Kraut," with Walter then matter-of-factly asking Pee Wee if he's a "dago or an American." Whether or not it's an accurate portrayal of the real man, some viewers may be offended by the way Joe is presented (as the smiling black man, with whimsical African-style music playing when he's the focus of the scene). Later, someone refers to him as "voodoo boy" and Gino thinks that Joe's religious beliefs are sacrilegious (but Joe corrects him on that). We hear that Joe is getting a fake passport for his travels (since he doesn't have a real one and there's no time to get one). A British soccer legend is something of a cultural snob toward the Americans. FRIGHTENING SCENES For those afraid of dead bodies, we briefly see a body in a casket at a funeral home. For those nervous about flying, there's a scene where the team is on a plane when the pilot announces that they're about to experience some bad turbulence. We then see lightning out the windows and then some bad turbulence where the plane and its occupants are shaken about rather roughly. GUNS/WEAPONS Some ceremonial rifles are briefly carried by guards before a game. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "A hell of a lot of fun," "A hell of a lot worse," "They play like a bunch of girls," "Stop your crap," "Get the hell out of here," "Meatball" (what a woman calls the players in passing after they ogle her), "Kraut," "Dago," "Go to hell," "Running our asses off," "What the hell is going on?" "Big piece of crapola," "A big turd," "Horse poppy," "Where the hell's that?" "All hell's going to break lose" and "As mad as hell." JUMP SCENES None. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) None. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 10 hells, 2 craps, 2 damns and 1 ass. SEX/NUDITY Some of the guys playfully ogle a pretty woman as she passes by. SMOKING Pee Wee smokes cigars more than 5 times, Gino smokes cigars several times, and various miscellaneous characters smoke cigars and cigarettes in various scenes. Pee Wee gives Gino an unlit cigar at the latter's wedding. TENSE FAMILY SCENES We briefly see an older woman crying at a funeral, but we don't know any details about this scene. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT The historical accuracy of and/or any artistic license taken with the real story. The fact that the U.S. team was comprised of amateurs vs. pros from the other countries. We briefly see a body in a casket at a funeral home and Frank's mother says she wants him to go to embalmer's school (but he doesn't want to). Fear of flying. WWII (some of the characters are veterans). There's talk that Frank served some time on a "psycho ward" for war-related shell-shock and that Pee Wee had some sort of similar reaction. The talk that soccer is the most democratic sport in that anyone can play, regardless of their size, speed or strength. The coach says that the Americans won't be competitive in the World Cup for another 50 years, and that their mission this time is to nurture the game for future generations and be good ambassadors to the rest of the world. Walter states that success is always about belief. A U.S. military general briefly mentions an incident in Korea. VIOLENCE Gloves knocks down players during a game. A player is flipped through the air and lands hard on the field during practice. Gloves purposefully knocks down Walter, but the latter calls off any foul on him so that he can make the team. There's some physical contact during a practice game, including Pee Wee shoving another player. Later, there's more shoving and then even some struggling. There's some physical contact in a soccer game, including Charley pushing an opponent to the ground when the latter comes into contact with Frank. Reviewed April 11, 2005 / Posted April 22, 2005

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