Customer Reviews

Her Best Move

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My girls (ages 9 & 14) loved "Her Best Move"!! We were fortunate to screen the film early at the Chicago Int'l Children's Film Festival. It's a refreshing film, with a great message. There are so few films for teens and tweens like this! My girls play competitive soccer and they were amazed at how exciting and realistic the soccer action was. Our whole family liked it (including my son who prefers little league to soccer!)

I imagine most people watching Her Best Move will do so because they want a good family movie for kids who like soccer. I think Her Best Move largely succeeds on that front. It has the usual ups and downs, family turmoils, the boyfriend miscommunication, etc. - all resolved happily of course. However, there's something about it that just seems small-bore and predictable. For example, a girl spreads a rumor that the star of the movie, Sara, said her boyfriend kisses like a "dead squid." And he believed her. Really? Maybe it's been a while since I was in high school, but that just seems juvenile and unbelievable (the rumors in our high school were much worse, and students tended to be a bit more cynical). This might make the movie a bit boring for parents watching with their kids. It certainly isn't as entertaining as Bend It Like Beckham (Widescreen Edition), another girls' soccer movie. I'd maybe recommend Her Best Move for younger (grade school) girls, and then Bend It Like Beckham (Widescreen Edition) for somewhat wider audiences.

Most times I tend to stay away from the Disney Channel and all its saccharine goodness, and at the best of times I'm only a casual fan of soccer. But family obligations had me parked in the living room one evening and checking out this movie, and it wasn't really so horrible a time. HER BEST MOVE doesn't flash the sublime cinematic creds of Bend It Like Beckham (Widescreen Edition) or the Amanda Bynes-powered appeal of She's the Man (Widescreen Edition), but it's still a positive and very watchable dramedy and ideally suited for family viewing, especially if you have little girls and if they're into soccer.

15-year-old Sara Davis may be a soccer phenom (and a bit of a ballhog) but, in many ways, she's your typical teenaged girl, trying not to get mown down by pressures of school and social peers and all that stuff we all went thru when we were that insecure age. Sara carries the added baggage of a taskmaster of a dad who relentlessly pushes her in her sport. But Sara genuinely loves soccer and has a long shot at making the National Development Team, and so she falls in line, sacrificing her time at being just a normal girl and hanging out with her best friend, missing out on her dance classes and on a possible romance with that reclusive but cute teen photographer. The predictable fallout is that Sara is gradually succumbing to stress, what with her being bombarded from all sides, expected to meet all sorts of obligations. Sadly, not even her supportive mom's sneaking dollops of ice cream into those yucky nutritional blended drinks is enough of an upside.

HER BEST MOVE doesn't try to pull a fast one on you. It's a solid picture, straightforward and familiar thru and thru, from Sara's character arc to the ultra-competitive on-field rival to that all-important big final game. Also familiar are those themes of self-discovery, personal choice, and parents exerting too much pressure on their kids to excel in youth sports, to the detriment of these kids' enjoyment in simply being kids. And, frankly, the soccer matches won't dazzle anyone. It all comes down to the cast's performances, and, at the movie's core, is Leah Pipes's performance. Leah Pipes isn't a Barbie playing at soccer. There's a realness to her and an honesty in how she demonstrates her character's self-consciousness and anxieties and in her tentative steps toward romance. She grounds this movie. To quote from her interview with the popculturemadness website: "I was so thrilled to get the part of Sara because I was able to combine my two passions: acting and soccer." And sure enough, Leah is pretty convincing as a soccer player. It helps, too, that, even with its crop of clichés the film doesn't get too preachy or silly and that the screenplay doesn't resort too much to overwrought and contrived high school schtick. In summing up, there's enough here that's thought-provoking and substantial and engaging to separate HER BEST MOVE from the pack of run-of-the-mill teen flicks endlessly parading thru the Disney Channel.

This is a great film for the whole family. The story is about a high school girl who is a great soccer player, but who has sacrificed some of normal life outside of soccer and how she reconnects with her friends and her life while pursuing her goal of being the youngest member ever on the U.S. National Development Team. The film is funny, inspiring and just great.

This is a FAMILY movie. If you want "edgy", this movie is not for you. But it's a wholesome story, well told, and, while the turf is familiar, the characters have surprising depth and the plot manages to avoid most cliches.
If your kids like soccer, this film definitely will appeal to them.

I was pleasantly surprised! I've found that many of the movies for teen girls out there focus on appearance and send the message that a girl needs to be pretty and have a guy fall for her in order to be validated as a person. While this movie has a little of that, it is overall a fantastic guide, especially to tweens and teens, about rough times and decisions and how to deal with them. Themes touched on are sportsmanship, friendship, jealousy, apologizing, forgiveness, family problems, goals, timing of goals, the work that meeting goals takes, team work, etc.
I debated giving the film 4 stars rather than 5 because the plot isn't exactly original, but a film that leaves me wanting to be a better person deserves 5 stars.

Good But Boring

Good Reason:I Liked The Wy The Girl In The Story Had A Lot Of Potential About How She Wanted To Play Football And Continue To Play Instead Of Doing What Her Mam Wants Her To Do.

Boring Reason:It Was About One Storyline "Football"

It Was A Good Film But Just A Bit Boring

Its a very good family movie. Especially if your children are into soccer! :-)

This movie was pretty much what I expected! My 5 yr old loved it and it was nice not to have to worry about any "adult subjects" popping up! Would definitely recommend it!

I had heard some pretty bad reviews but nevertheless I took my thermos of Tiger Beat and a girlfriend to rent it from Blockbuster. I wanted to like this movie so much but I feel like I didn't have a chance.