Home Team
Directed byAllan A. Goldstein
Written by
  • Pierce O'Donnell
  • Jeff Lewis
Screenplay byJeff Lewis
Pierce O'Donnell
Produced by
  • Anthony Esposito
  • Christine Kavanagh
  • Claude Léger
  • Luciano Lisi
StarringSteve Guttenberg
Sophie Lorain
Ryan Slater
Edited byRichard Comeau
Release date
  • November 30, 1998 (1998-11-30) (Canada)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4 million[1]

Home Team is a 1998 comedy film starring Steve Guttenberg.

Plot summary

Mr. Butler is a former pro soccer player whose reputation for partying and gambling has caught up with him. He is sentenced to a year of probation, which includes working as a handyman in a dilapidated boys' home. Karen runs the home for a group of eleven boys whose parents could not raise them for some reason. Karen wants the boys to do something meaningful so she persuades them to start a soccer team known simply as "Home Team". They are terrible, but Mr. Butler, who has concealed his skills so far, is persuaded to coach the team, which eventually improves. A fire damages the home to the point that it must be torn down, and the boys will be separated, but efforts are made to keep the boys together. In a rematch, Home Team ends up defeating the first team they played on the way to a possible championship. The boys' cook Cookie, who likes to bet on horse races, made a bet with a Las Vegas bookie that Home Team would win; his winnings will be enough to get them a new house.

Cast

  • Steve Guttenberg as Henry Butler
  • Sophie Lorain as Karen
  • Ryan Slater as Julian
  • Michel Perron as Cookie
  • Carl Alacchi as Larkin
  • Johnny Morina as Alex
  • Tyler Hynes as Chip
  • David Deveau as Pineapple
  • Frank Schorpion as Vince
  • Richard Jutras as Semary
  • Ashton Laine Jersey as Meghan
  • Kathleen Fee as Social Service Woman
  • Willy Lavendel as Charlie
  • Chad Connell as Eric
  • Anthony Etesonne-Bedard as Four Eyes
  • Eric Lightbourne as Goodbye
  • Brian Paul Imperial as Gregory

Production

Home Team was filmed in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[2] 15-year old Ryan Slater in the film is also the half-brother of actor Christian Slater.[1]

Screenwriter (and attorney) Pierce O'Donnell, who wrote the script in 1994, filed suit against the Canadian producer group in 2000, regarding allegedly unfair accounting practices in the film's development costs.[3]

The French title of the movie is "Une combinaison gagnante" (A winning combination) and the German name is Home Team – Ein treffsicheres Team (An unerring team).

Reception

The Wallflower critical guide to contemporary North American directors (2000) notes that Home Team was "little known" at that time.[4] VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (2004) writes that the movie has a "familiar plot but that's not necessarily bad."[5] The Radio Times Guide To Film (2007) opined that "Hollywood still hasn't got the hang of football (or soccer, as they insist on calling it) and this family-oriented frolic is decidedly minor league."[6]

Efilmcritic.com's 2001 review of the film was especially biting, calling it "an affront to film making".[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 (14 November 1998). Home Team a Mighty Ducks-like tale, Montreal Gazette, p. 53
  2. ↑ Brownstein, Bill (November 14, 1998). "Shooting Stars". The Gazette (Newspapers.com).
  3. ↑ Petrikin, Chris and Ben Berkowitz (31 October 2000). Heavy-Weight Industry Lawyer O'Donnell Sues Producer for Defrauding Struggling Screenwriter: Himself, Inside.com
  4. ↑ Wallflower critical guide to contemporary North American directors, p. 178 (2000)
  5. ↑ VideoHound's golden movie retriever, p. 386 (2004)
  6. ↑ Radio Times guide to film 2007, p. 563
  7. ↑ (16 December 2001). The EFC Review, Efilmcritic.com
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