Sports comedies are a genre of cinema that attracts many with its lightness and entertaining plot. Comedies about athletes are filmed around the world, so there are enough both domestic and foreign films of this type. We will talk about the most remarkable of them in this article.
Amateur football
Sports comedies are often dedicated not to professionals, but to amateurs. Watching them is no less fun than world and continental champions. For example, the film "Dream Team" in 2012 deservedly received high marks from viewers and critics.
This is a tape by Olivier Daan, starring José Garcia, Jean-Pierre Mariel, Frank Dubosc. The slogan of the picture was the well-known winged expression "You can’t drink skill." It most accurately reflects everything that happens on the screen.
The protagonist is a formerly popular footballer and coach named Patrick. After the end of his professional career, he drinks heavily, and he manages to get a job only as a mentor of an amateur team in the north of France.
Such prospects do not appeal to him, but he cannot refuse. Otherwise, the protagonist of the film "Dream Team" in 2012 will be deprived of custody of his daughter. The team of Patrick is played by fishermen, postmen and accountants. It is expected that they lose one game after another. Then the coach comes up with inviting popular football stars in the past. This is a fun sports comedy that has been watched by more than three million people worldwide.
Children's hockey
Children's and youthful sport is another fruitful topic for paintings of this genre. The 1992 film “The Mighty Ducklings” tells of the successful lawyer Gordon Bombay, who is famous among his colleagues for dirty tricks, thanks to which he manages to win in court.
When he himself is caught for driving while intoxicated, he is sentenced to 500 hours of community service.
Gordon is sent to coach the children's hockey team. He faces a difficult task: to turn inept boys into real professionals. Hockey is his long-standing passion and pain. In his youth, he played hockey himself, he is still worried about the fact that in the final of the state championship many years ago he did not realize the decisive shootout.
It is noteworthy that the 1992 film “The Mighty Ducks” was so popular that the NHL club, created in 1993, was called “Mighty Ducks of Anaheim”.
Cheeky Abduction
What can fans of a basketball team decide on the eve of a decisive match? As it turns out, absolutely everything. The main characters of the 1996 Basketball Fever movie decide to kidnap the rival team leader.
Ahead of the meeting between the Boston Celtic and Utah Jazz. Fans Jimmy and Mike, having drunk in the bar Lewis Scott, the best player of the opponent, commit a daring abduction. The main roles in this tape were played by Damon Wayans, Daniel Stern and Dan Aykroyd. The really funny things in the 1996 Basketball Fever movie are starting to happen when things don't go as the kidnappers originally intended.
Among the losers
In this position, the main character is the picture of Steve Carr. A college basketball team coach in the 2005 Rebound movie commits an inadmissible. He allows himself a flash of anger during the match, because of this he is fired from his job.
The character of Martin Lawrence has to start working with collectives of youngsters, where everyone is without fail and losers. But he does not despair, hoping in a short time to create from these inept basketball players real athletes capable of much. In the film "Rebound" in 2005, the main roles were also played by Wendy Raquel Robinson, Brekin Meyer, Oratio Sans.
On the field of kung fu master
In 2002, many remembered the picture of the kung fu masters. In the 2001 Kill Football movie, the main character, Shin, played by Stephen Chow, is a master of Shaolin Kung Fu. His goal is to convey to his contemporaries the practical and spiritual benefits of this martial art.
To do this, he uses various methods: arranges dances, performs with comedy songs, but all this does not bring practically any effect. Finally, in Hong Kong, he meets the famous footballer Feng, who had long since ended his career, becoming a rich and successful businessman. Shin tells him about his plans to popularize kung fu, proposes to create a football team, mixing football with kung fu.
Coach Feng begins to form a real invincible team from the Shaolin brothers. They begin to participate in the Hong Kong Open Cup, where they reach the final. Their rivals are a team of "Devils" who expect to win by taking anabolics. Prohibited substances give them unprecedented strength and speed, making them virtually invulnerable.
At the decisive moment of the game, it will reach the challenge of dark demonic forces, turning the ball into a ball of fire, as well as the use of kung fu virtuoso techniques, which allow the main characters to defeat. The dream of the protagonist comes true, people around the world are starting to get involved in football and kung fu.
The Chinese film "Slaughter Football" in 2001 was popular all over the world; it was also rented in Russia.
From security guard to hockey players
The amazing transformation of the average guard of an average bar into a professional hockey player is shown in the picture by Michael Daus. The protagonist of the sports comedy "Bouncer" - works in a provincial state bar. Somehow he gets into a fight at a hockey game. Doug fights so well that he is attracted to the attention of a professional team coach who urgently needs a player to defend the leader of the team leading the striker on the ice.
The only problem is that Doug cannot even skate. However, he is happy to learn to do this, because in fights he is the best. The rivals of his new team also have their own bouncer. This is the tough guy Ross Ria, who threatens everyone in the league with one look. Doug, with the help of his comrade, begins to make a dizzying career, rallies the team around him, and in parallel, he seeks to achieve the love of the girl whom he has long dreamed of.
"An involuntary athlete"
Funny sports comedies were filmed at all times. In 1939, a Polish black-and-white film was released under the title “Involuntarily Sportsman”. It was removed by Mechislav Kravich.
Although the tape itself was removed in 1939, its premiere was postponed due to the outbreak of World War II, it took place only in 1940. At the center of the story, the hairdresser Thursday refuses, who has the opportunity to earn extra money. A wealthy hockey player Friday makes him an unusual offer: he has a thoroughbred dog, which the owner wants to cross with a bitch of the same breed.
However, in order to get to this bitch, the main character has to pretend to be a hairdresser and become a real hockey player.
"Goalkeeper"
Among Russian sports comedies, I immediately recall the picture of Semyon Timoshenko's “Goalkeeper”. It was the first Soviet film dedicated to sports.
It tells the story of an ordinary guy Anton Kandidov, who works on agricultural work: he carries watermelons in a boat on the Volga. While loading watermelons, everyone pays attention to how cleverly Anton catches them. He is advised to become a goalkeeper. Candidov decides to follow this advice, but on the path to sports glory he will find not only success, but also real disappointment.
"Girl Gregory"
In the list of sports comedies that are worthy of your attention, Bill Forsythe's picture "Gregory's Girl". She talks about the relationship of students in transition.
The protagonist - a teenager named Gregory - performs in a school football team. He does not have a relationship with the coach, he begins to invite new athletes, among whom is the girl Dorothy, who plays perfectly in the attack. Almost immediately, Gregory falls in love with her.
But when Dorothy begins to play ahead, Gregory himself has to take a place in the gate. In the first game, he misses an offensive goal, only Dorothy, equalizing the score, saves the situation, and at the same time becomes the real heroine of the school. The young man begins to be jealous of everyone around him, because the schoolgirl becomes unusually popular in an instant. Gregory invites her on a date. Dorothy agrees. But the date is very unusual. Thus begins their romantic relationship.
"Reserve player"
Among the best sports comedies, one more domestic film should be noted. This is another comedy of Semyon Tymoshenko, which is called "Reserve Player".
The tape tells about the Blue Arrows factory team, which ends up in the Cup final. On the ship "Victory" she goes to the finals in Sukhumi. They will play against the team “Pennant”, which is considered a recognized favorite. But before the match, they will find a large number of incredible adventures.
Between the members of the football team and the passengers of the ship, a romantic relationship occurs. In addition, a young film artist by the name of Svetlanov is floating on board, who disguises himself as old man Grandfather in order to better enter the future role.
"Eleven Men Offside"
In 2005, Robert Douglas's Icelandic comedy Eleven Men Offside was released. She talks about a football star who was kicked out of the team after it became known about his gay sexual orientation. The film was a success at the box office, was shown at film festivals in Berlin, Toronto and Hawaii.
At the center of the story is the star of Icelandic football Ottar Tor, who in an interview with reporters makes a cuming out. This causes a big commotion in his team, it soon turns out that Thor is suspended from the game, he has to leave the team.
The situation is complicated due to the fact that the father of the club is the manager of the sports club, so that everything that happened also inflicts a blow on the family. Thor begins to perform at an amateur level, finding a team consisting mainly of homosexuals. His father persuades him to return, but Thor agrees only on the condition that a team of professionals play against a gay club. His father agrees, not suspecting that the date of the match coincides with a large-scale gay parade, so there will be a huge number of sex minorities in the stands.
"She is a man"
In 2006, Andy Fickman's youth sports comedy titled "She's a Man." The film became a free interpretation of William Shakespeare's classic play Twelfth Night.
The main characters are twins who study in the same class. Their parents are divorced, they sometimes live with their dad, then with their mother. Sebastian dreams of becoming a star, playing in a musical group. Because of this, he has to constantly skip school, as a result, he is expelled. However, instead of going to a new school, he leaves for the capital of Great Britain for a major music festival. And he asks his sister to cover him by calling the school on behalf of his parents.
Meanwhile, Viola is preparing for the final ball of the debutantes, her mother selects a dress for her, and the girl more than anything else wants to play football. She is the captain of the women's school football team, she has a major tournament ahead, in which Viola expects to win. But the team is disqualified due to its small size. The main character is trying to break into the team of boys, but the coach does not agree to include her in the application. The same opinion is shared by her young man, the captain of the school team. This leads to a breakdown in relations between them.
Then Viola goes to Sebastian’s new school, about to enter the football team under the guise of a boy and defeat the team of her school, where she was not welcome. In a school hostel, her local neighbor Duke Orsino becomes her neighbor. “Sebastian” is poorly received, and the coach immediately sends the newcomer to the second composition. But Viola will still have a chance to prove himself on the football field.