Her Best Move

What’s the Story?

HER BEST MOVE centers around 15-year-old Sara (Leah Pipes), who has been groomed by her soccer coach father (Scott Patterson) to be the youngest member of the women's national soccer team. Rejected for the team once already, Sara gets a second chance. But as she starts to explore life outside her rigorous training schedule -- including taking dance with best friend Tutti (Lalaine) and a budding romance with the school's shutterbug Josh (Drew Tyler Bell) -- she starts to wonder whether that's what she really wants. She has to face a choice confronted by a lot of teens: Does she go for achievement for achievement's sake and win her father's approval, or does she opt out for a normal life?

Is It Any Good?

Like its main character, Sara (Leah Pipes), Her Best Move is smart, sensitive, and sincere -- and it doesn't know where it wants to go. An earnest coming-of-age film, it will resonate with the parents of high-achieving teens. And teens will identify with the very normal Sara and her travails. But that doesn't mean it has a plot, exactly. While it's authentic and has heart, it's a little short on dramatic tension.

It's so clear from the beginning that Sara isn't determined to be a soccer star that the viewer starts to root for her to stay at home. And while that's probably healthy, it doesn't do much for the plot. What's great in the film are the little touches -- especially the look into the life of a supergirl who works, studies, plays a sport, and is trying to figure out her future besides. For that alone, it's worth watching.