Underdogs

At the start of UNDERDOGS, when he learns that his son is losing interest in soccer because he never scores any goals, Jake (Matthew Morrison) goes into his son's room and tells him a bedtime story about when he was a boy, working in a café. In the café is a foosball soccer table with players who are unique characters -- among them angry British players, a hippie from Berkeley, and a vain Spanish player. He meets a cute girl named Laura, but just when they start to hit it off, an egomaniacal bully named Ace comes into the café and demands to play Jake at foosball. When Jake beats him -- Ace has never lost at anything -- nothing will do but for Ace to become the most dominant professional soccer player in the world. When that happens, many years after the foosball incident, Ace returns to town, buys the town, and begins to demolish it, including the beloved café and the foosball game with Jake's tiny friends. The players on the board come to life, and they will stop at nothing to help Jake stop Ace from destroying the town, stealing Laura, and defeating Jake and his ragtag group of local volunteers at a final soccer match to determine who the "winner" really is -- Jake or Ace.