Underdogs (PG)
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Caution: spoilers.

This is an Argentinian film first released in 2013, and it's possible I first heard of it around that time, but it's also possible I didn't hear of it until sometime later... or earlier, since it was announced in 2009, though the odds of my hearing of an unproduced film from Argentina that early are pretty slim. Its original title, anyway, is "Metegol," which means "Foosball." In 2014 it was released in the U.K. as "The Unbeatables," and that same year the U.S. rights were acquired to it under the name "Underdogs," with a different English dub cast than the one used in the U.K. Anyway, I think that it's safe to assume I'd heard of it at least as early as that year. And I was kind of looking forward to it. But its release in this country got pushed back several times, until finally being released direct-to-DVD in 2016. And then I didn't get a copy until late in 2017, by which time I was really starting to doubt whether it would be very good. Especially since the reviews were poor to middling. But now that I've seen it, I can say I, for one, think it's definitely a fun movie, and I'm really glad to have seen it.

It begins with a man named Jake (voiced by Matthew Morrison, from Glee) playing with his foosball table out in the garage, or whatever. His son, Matty, comes to tell him his wife is looking for him. So they both go back in the house, and when Matty goes to bed, Jake's wife tells Jake that Matty wants to quit the soccer team, because he's not very good. So Jake tells Matty a bedtime story about something that happened in another town, years ago. The main character in the story is named Jake, and of course Matty immediately realizes it's about his father, though Jake rather unconvincingly denies that. ("Jake is a common name.") Anyway, he was working as a waiter in a bar, or whatever, when he was a young boy. In the bar he has his own foosball table, for which he made all the players and gave them names and backstories. One day, he meets a girl named Laura (voiced by Bella Thorne), and it's love at first sight, at least as far as Jake is concerned. (For Laura it was at least friendship at first sight.) Then a group of bullies comes in, led by a boy named Ace. He's a pretty good soccer player, while Jake is totally unathletic. Ace challenges him to a foosball match, and Laura says Jake will do it. At first, Jake just does nothing, letting Ace get a couple of goals. But then he's inspired to win, to impress Laura, and he does so very easily. Ace is enraged at having lost, and vows to make the town like him instead of Jake. But then he disappears and isn't seen in town again for seven years.

Flash forward to Jake as a young man with no particular plans, still just hanging around playing foosball. He and Laura (now voiced by Ariana Grande) are best friends, and she's excited to tell him she's been accepted into art school. And he's happy for her, but it's hard to show it, because he's also obviously disappointed she'll be leaving, especially since he's never worked up the courage to tell her he loves her. He tries to finally do so, but is interrupted by the return of Ace, who has become the world's greatest professional soccer player. He's bought the town, and plants to build his own arena and all kinds of things, which he expects will make the townsfolk love him. It also seems that he wants to win Laura's heart, which is completely impossible, because he's such a vain, obnoxious jerk. But when she climbs into his helicopter to tell him off, he takes off with her as a captive. (I don't think he thought for a second that he was kidnapping her, but that just goes to show how utterly thoughtless he is.) Meanwhile, a wrecking crew starts demolishing the whole town, starting with the bar. Jake tries to rescue his foosball table, but fails. (Actually, it's after that that Ace takes off with Laura in the helicopter.) So Jake is left utterly dejected.

As he sits outside crying, one of his tears falls onto a foosball figure that had been ripped out of the table, apparently, while it was being taken away by a crane. The figure, Skip (the captain of the team that Jake called the Underdogs), suddenly comes to life. And he wants Jake to help find the rest of his team. So they go to the town dump, where it turns out the other players (on both teams) have also come to life. (This is never explained, but I just assume the magic from Jake's tear somehow affected all of them via some sort of ethereal connection to Skip. I dunno.) Some of the players have been separated, but eventually they all get together again. We don't actually get to know all of them very well. The main one is Skip, of course, but we also get to know a few of his teammates, as well as Rip, the captain of the opposing team from the foosball table. Skip and Rip actually become friends, and both teams end up helping Jake find and rescue Laura.

Some really bizarre stuff happens that I don't need to get into... it's amusing, but not very important. But eventually, Ace challenges Jake to game of actual soccer, against Ace and his whole team of professionals. And Laura decides that whoever wins should get to keep the town. So, Jake and Laura have to assemble a team of their own. None of the people they get are athletes, and most of them are quite old and/or in terrible shape. There are a couple of strong guys who join the team, but it's really not enough to offset the huge advantage that Ace's team has. (Though there is one guy just called "Emo," who never says anything, and who had been seen as a kid in the earlier scene, seven years ago. I think he was my favorite member of Jake's team.) Anyway... eventually the foosball figures start helping Jake's team, unbeknownst to Jake or anyone. (They're so small they can basically hide among the blades of astroturf.) But when Jake finds out they've been helping, he tells Skip he wants his team to win without cheating.

Well, I don't want to say how the game ends, but there's a very happy ending to the story, even if it's not the ending you'd probably expect. (But at least Jake and Laura end up together, which may be predictable, but I really liked that part of the movie. Because I really liked both characters, and thought they were great together, whether as friends or as a couple.) And... of course we finally return to the present, with Jake telling Matty the story, which inspires him to keep playing soccer. And there's a bit more that happens after that, which I don't want to reveal. Anyway, like I said, I thought it was a fun movie. I liked the whole story, and there were a lot of really funny bits, and absurdity, and, you know, it was all heartwarming and whatnot. Also I want to say that when Ace was a kid, I thought he sounded exactly like Joe from Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart, which would have been so appropriate... but it was a different actor. Oh well.