Boys Klub
By Brian Costello,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Lousy coming-of-age basketball movie has frequent bullying.
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Based on 1 parent review
Good comedy with Sandlot type of style
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What's the Story?
When his father (Beau Bridges) takes on a new job that transfers him to Phoenix for the summer, Mario (Chauncey Leopardy) is sent to San Francisco to live with his aunt, and his teen bully of a cousin, Fooley (R.D. Robb). Mario's aunt forces Fooley to take Mario to the local Boys Club, where a foul-tempered coach belittles everyone except Fooley and their beloved "A Team" of superior basketball players. After being shoved and laughed at by the "A Team," Mario ends up with the other clique of boys at the Boys Club, "The Misfits," a ragtag gang of gangly young teens. A bond instantly forms, and together they get into hijinx like spying on bras through a hole in a fence, and "pantsing" the mean basketball coach while he's seated in the men's room toilet. But they want to play basketball, and the kindly priest who runs this Boys Club chapter asks them to form a team to compete. They hire the janitor to be the coach, and they dress up like women to wash cars to raise funds to register their team for the big championship series. Through practice and hard work, they get into the championships, and are good enough to take on the "A Team" for the final game, where Mario and his new friends must pull together one last time and try to attain victory.
Is It Any Good?
BOYS KLUB is one of those movies that is across-the-board terrible. The storyline is forced and often incoherent, the production values are sloppy and amateurish, and with the exception of R.D. Robb -- best known as the boy who "triple dog dared" his friend into sticking his tongue on the frozen flag pole in A Christmas Story -- the acting is flat and bland. The storyline is as unoriginal as you can get, and any moments of uniqueness spring out of conveniently forcing elements into the story so as to give the actors engaged in truly bizarre cameos (Rachel Hunter and Ike Turner, for instance) something to do. It's hard to believe Beau Bridges signed onto this, even as he's only there in the beginning and the end.
In addition, there is frequent bullying from older teens and a basketball coach who even uses the word "retard" to describe kids less skiled at sports--in a Boys Club, no less--and aside from a very brief tongue-lashing from the priest in charge of the Boys Club, there are no consequences for their cruel behavior. There really is nothing worthwhile in this movie. For those looking for coming-of-age movies and/or "comeback kid" sports movies, there are so many better options out there than this almost unwatchable movie.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about bad movies. What are some of the elements that make a movie "bad?"
How is the subject of bullying treated and handled in this movie?
What are some aspects of this movie that make it a "coming-of-age" movie?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: December 21, 2004
- Cast: Beau Bridges, Chauncey Leopardi, R.D. Robb
- Director: Lebrado Baracio
- Studio: Monarch Home Video
- Genre: Drama
- Topics: Sports and Martial Arts
- Run time: 98 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: February 25, 2022
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