Switching Goals (1999) Reviews

• Score for Mary-Kate and Ashley

  David, Film Freak2001-04-15

  Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen ('Full House', 'To Grandmother's House We Go') play twin sisters (are there any other kind for these two?!). Sam (Mary-Kate) is the sporty, less-popular one, while Emma (Ashley) is the boy and fashion-obsessed one. Here, the twins sign up for their dad's soccer team (which, to their dad Jerry's dismay, has turned co-ed), however, Emma is picked first out of pity for her dad's Hurricanes team, while Sam is shafted into the loser-ish Buzzards team. So, to help eachother out, Sam and Emma trade places with eachother (how original!) to play on the opposite teams... until their mom finds out. Stuck with their original placings, Sam becomes the star buzzard, while Emma does practically nothing on field except distract the other players... until, the final game (coincidentally between the Buzzards and Hurricanes), where they find Emma has a hidden talent...goalie. A much better Olsen film than most, with their acting talents improving through the course of it. Not bad at all.

  More

• Predictable. Kids only.

  Pigwidgeon2000-11-12

  Switching Goals is pure mindless entertainment. It is a movie made purely for Olsen fans only, since most football shots feature mostly them. Funny enough, even though the movie says that the football teams go co-ed, Mary-Kate and Ashley seem to be the only girls in their teams. It's weird how the entire film seems to be banking merely on the girls' presence. The storyline is rather predictable, and using the switching identity tactic in twins is seriously very boring. The only upside to Switching Goals however is that it makes very good family entertainment. Ok, make that families with very young kids.

  More

• Twin Power

  Natalia Adriana2000-04-07

  The Olsen twin strikes again. Now with "Switching Goals". Actually, I found this movie quite interesting about Sam who is a tomboy and Emma is more into boys (almost the same like in "two of a kind").But this time, their father picked Emma to be in the team and Sam in the other team. Emma can't play at all, and Sam is master in football. And then they switch places, and then Sam likes a boy who think Sam is Emma. Kinda confusing, eh? But anyway, this movie is cool and i love the olsen twins.

  More

• Not too bad...

  Kate-1622001-01-16

  But, these two are in serious need of a new plot. It's the same thing over and over again... they switch places. Geeeezzzz..... when will it end? Who knows... maybe if they had a different plot, they would actually look like good actresses. It's not too bad, but, if you're a parent, let the kids watch this one on their own!

  More

• This movie has no clue how soccer is played. This movie is a Pele kick to the head.

  ironhorse_iv2014-07-01

  This movie is no Bend it like Beckham about two young girls trying out soccer. If the movie's goal was to ruin soccer. They truly success. I don't think this movie even bother learning the sport. You'd think that people making these sports movies would at the very least, check out the rules and facts about the sport they are centering their movie around! I think the movie was confusing football with football. There isn't no time outs, countdown, and in finals game, there is no draw ending. I know, recreational leagues for youth are generally co-ed, and can end with ties, even for finals. It's all for fun and everyone wins, but gees… it's so anti-climax. There is no stalks in this movie. No risk. People don't see a sport movie to watch two people fight to a draw!? They want to see a winner, and a loser. Real Life isn't like that. What are you trying to teach kids? Don't bother being good at anything, because you don't have to even work hard, because you're going to end up a winner, in the end. I know sports at that age are just to teach the basics of the sport in question and how to work together as a team, but learning how to win and how to take a lost is part of growing up. There are things, you can't control, and children should learn that. Directed by David Steinberg, there is a few things, disturbing on how they portray, co-ed soccer here. Yes, there are some woman who are stronger than men. But especially around the age the characters in this movie are, there is a big gap in physical strength that starts to develop, which women have to train in order to overcome. In a sport which relies heavily on physical challenges, there can be no equality here. Plus those characters are just getting into the age where sexuality starts to become a thing. After all, one of the girls in the film is attract to boys. Soccer is indeed a physical contact sport. Don't be surprise to have your balls kick in, or boobs cave in. It's a dangerous sport. It's certainly a problem. I'm not against co-eds sports when teams have an equal chance of winning, but separate leagues does make better games. If you blindly force the notion of pure equality, you will end up in a situation where only a very small portion of girls will end up playing football because the rest of those who would potentially be interested are weaker than the average boys and the few girls who are in par with them, and thus will be underachievers wouldn't be very encouraging. This also means the same with men. Some men don't like being beaten in sports by girls. This means that less girls and boys would be willing to playing football if it's co-ed in fear of hurting the other, physical or mentally. Honestly, I thought, maybe the message is about not pushing your children too hard into sports, but when I think about it, there is little to no moral lesson here. That's probably too much to ask from a Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen film. The movie is so predictable. It follows the same switch twin Parent Trap rip off concept formula that made Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen into millionaires by the age of 21, by the endless straight-to-VHS and TV movies. You can see and hear the low budget with awful text screen, lack of locations, and mediocre actors. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen doesn't have the acting chops of their sister, Elizabeth Olsen. No matter, what movie, you watch, they play the same characters. One is a tomboy, and the other is a girly girl. You see it, in 1995's It Takes Two, and you see it, later in films like 2004's New York Minute. Mary Kate as Sam Stanton is supposed to be the jock. You can see her, not living up to that, quickly. Ashley Olsen as Emma Stanton, get a sub-plot with a boy that wasn't really need for this movie. It doesn't add, anything to main plot. They were not that great, being an actress. Most of their roles weren't challenging enough for them to even show if they can be. After all, it was all about them being popular at the time and movie makers wanted to cash in on that by any means necessary. The supporting cast is just as bad. The over dramatic father and the clumsy mother are just shameful. Then you got, a fat actor, who pretty much, just plays the fat guy. You don't see it, anywhere without him, mentioning food or eating something. It's so stereotype cliché and unfunny. It was a bit odd, seeing a young Michael Cera in this film. I guess, the film knew it was going to be unfunny with him, around. The movie pacing is awful with endless amounts of montages and pointless scenes that go, nowhere. Overall: If you're not a fan of their work, this movie is indeed a kick to the head. If you're a fan of their works, there are better movies than this. Not a great movie, indeed.

  More