Upstairs at 8:30 PM
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Eleven Men Out
(2005, 90 min)
Country: Iceland
Director: Robert I. Douglas
Studio: Here!, Genius Entertainment
SYNOPSIS:
When a sexy champion soccer pro comes out of the closet, he’s forced onto an amateur team of misfits and other queers in this dryly comedic Icelandic import.REVIEW:
Football (soccer in the US) star Ottar Thor’s game and life seem to be down a few points lately. Divorced from a beauty queen-turned-alcoholic and father of a teenage son, Magnus, Ottar comes out in a magazine article. When the story breaks, the soccer team’s homophobic brass elect to keep him off the field. So Ottar joins a friend’s amateur squad, which soon becomes a magnet for additional gay players. Meanwhile, Ottar starts dating (and getting action from) a fellow player, causing more grief for Magnus, who’s already taunted and teased by classmates about his fag father. Can Ottar reconcile sexuality, family, and sport by the time his new team plays his former one on Gay Pride Day?
Writer/director Robert I. Douglas takes a deadpan approach, with many laughs resulting not from wacky antics on the field, but a lack thereof when many rural teams refuse to play Ottar’s queer ilk. A sports-themed film for even those who don’t like sports, you just can’t lose betting on Eleven Men Out.
-- Lawrence Ferber