Tony Danza plays a garbageman (Gorman) who has a beat up truck that needs to have a lever kicked into shape constantly, through which he develops the magic ability to kick empty water containers over a mountain. The professional US football team of Philadelphia sees this and decides to sign him as a kicker for a hefty sum.
But this is no Cinderella story. When he gets to his princely castle he finds a lot of problems waiting for him, including a team that doesn't appreciate having a civilian on board, malicious papparazzis, and the crushing demands of high-level public performance. This last turns out to be too much for him and he kick-tile disfunction from it, which subsequently leads to even further problems with a fickle public.
It's very simplistic but extremely tidy and comprehensive. Every relevant critique of fame and the professional sports world is there in child-friendly form. For example, people will be nicer to him just because he's famous when he first joins the team and the coach is verbally abusive - critiques of fame and sports training.
The relationships are also well-developed. Gorman slowly earns the respect of the team by being a good friend and a positive guy. Domestically, you can also tell he's an average dad facing a very common problem - he doesn't have a huge measure of respect from his family - so you get a good sense of the pressure he's under to try and win back some of his pride.
It's a movie made using stick figures - very bare and simplistic, so it's tough for it to achieve a 10 - it was clearly made to be digestible by young children. Nevertheless, it has a tight plot and solid character acting with very few flaws. It's also just riveting and entertaining, even if you don't know an don't care a lick for sports or US Football.
Honourable Mentions: Over the Top (1987). Stallone plays Hawk, a trucker who develops superior arm strength by installing some weight-lifting device in his truck and becomes the world champion of arm wrestling. Sure. It could happen. Why not?
But this is no Cinderella story. When he gets to his princely castle he finds a lot of problems waiting for him, including a team that doesn't appreciate having a civilian on board, malicious papparazzis, and the crushing demands of high-level public performance. This last turns out to be too much for him and he kick-tile disfunction from it, which subsequently leads to even further problems with a fickle public.
It's very simplistic but extremely tidy and comprehensive. Every relevant critique of fame and the professional sports world is there in child-friendly form. For example, people will be nicer to him just because he's famous when he first joins the team and the coach is verbally abusive - critiques of fame and sports training.
The relationships are also well-developed. Gorman slowly earns the respect of the team by being a good friend and a positive guy. Domestically, you can also tell he's an average dad facing a very common problem - he doesn't have a huge measure of respect from his family - so you get a good sense of the pressure he's under to try and win back some of his pride.
It's a movie made using stick figures - very bare and simplistic, so it's tough for it to achieve a 10 - it was clearly made to be digestible by young children. Nevertheless, it has a tight plot and solid character acting with very few flaws. It's also just riveting and entertaining, even if you don't know an don't care a lick for sports or US Football.
Honourable Mentions: Over the Top (1987). Stallone plays Hawk, a trucker who develops superior arm strength by installing some weight-lifting device in his truck and becomes the world champion of arm wrestling. Sure. It could happen. Why not?