260:
and the team fails to get the promotion to the district league. The team are devastated and get drunk at a party. Ecki is then evicted from the team, with his mistake being used to cover the real reason—the revelation that he is gay that comes about when he is observed by some of his teammates
675:(1992) in which an underdog team is posed to somehow find the spirit to win an important game against a far superior opponent, these kinds of movies are relatively rare in German cinema. It may therefore not be surprising that this particular movie was made by an American-born director.
29:
253:. Football, the German national pastime, is particularly popular in this heavily industrialized region and Ecki has been an avid and successful player in a local club FC Boldrup, since his childhood days.
276:'Steel Tube' to recruit more homosexual players for his team. Among the greatest hopes are the two Brazilians Ronaldo and Ronaldinho and the actually hidden heterosexual bookseller Klaus.
290:
When the big day of the game comes, the match starts out badly for Ecki's team, but ultimately they are able to triumph over his old teammates by allowing their
1009:
974:
739:
states that the film is "by-the-numbers ensemble dramedy that hits every underdog and gay-fish-out-of-water cliche on the nose". Jeanette
Catsoulis of
984:
979:
964:
959:
785:
1024:
994:
898:
954:
663:
may be regarded as the first major German sports comedy. While this genre is far more established in the United States with movies such as
745:
said the "script groans with double-entendres" and it contains "lots of cheerful nudity, loving threesomes and more synonyms for "gay"".
969:
257:
999:
989:
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1014:
268:
to find members for his new team with the help of his sister
Susanne, who is living there. From the fans of his favorite club
1004:
264:
Ecki is defiant and immediately sets out to form his own team and beat his ex-teammates at their game. So he sets off for
1019:
684:
Audience Award of the
Connecticut Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 2006 in the category Best Feature Film (3rd place)
789:
671:
137:
721:
699:
Le Prix du public of the Gay & Lesbian Film
Festival 2005 in Long Island in the category Meilleur Long Gay
473:
417:
126:
724:, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
352:
246:
846:
690:
Audience Award of the Milano
Festival Internazionale di Cinema Gaylesbico 2006 in the category Best Film
485:
55:
687:
Audience Award of the Gay & Lesbian Film
Festival 2005 in Philadelphia in the category Best Feature
388:
443:
310:
79:
696:
Jury Award of the
Lesbian & Gay Festival Brussels 2005 in the category Best Foreign Language Film
491:
479:
449:
334:
304:
75:
370:
358:
233:
goalkeeper who assembles a gay-only soccer team to play against his ex-team, which fired him due to
949:
872:
437:
406:
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328:
65:
425:
364:
340:
903:
741:
735:
497:
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455:
346:
280:
467:
934:
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called the film "engaging" and "well-paced" with "a vibrantly funny script". Dennis Harvey of
709:
412:
269:
272:
he finds confusion, but he gradually succeeds in others places, such as a kebab shop and the
824:
509:
503:
249:) lives with his parents who own a bakery in Boldrup, a (fictitious) small German town near
107:
693:
Audience Award of
Outfest 2005 in Los Angeles in the category Outstanding Narrative Feature
713:
665:
222:
218:
200:
28:
729:
316:
226:
45:
943:
322:
287:), an ex-soccer player himself who quit the sport years ago after a stinging defeat.
214:
376:
810:
431:
284:
273:
819:
717:
382:
291:
234:
716:, 36% of 14 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.2/10.
283:), who becomes his first boyfriend. Training of the team is done by Karl (
265:
250:
928:
641:
899:"The Hometown Homophobes Meet Their Match in 'Guys and Balls'"
279:
Meanwhile, he also manages to win the heart of dreamboy Sven (
230:
593:
Frank
Tepferd as footballer (Fußballspieler) FC Boldrup
518:
Sunia-Shahana Ali as male nurse (Krankenschwester) 2
184:
176:
166:
143:
133:
113:
103:
93:
85:
71:
61:
51:
41:
21:
515:Jeanette Goetz as male nurse (Krankenschwester) 1
256:In a decisive game, he fails to keep a ball at a
611:Christoph Paeßens as Fußballspieler FC Boldrup
599:Heiko von der Bey as Fußballspieler FC Boldrup
554:Helmut Schenkel as Harley rider (Harleyfahrer)
373:as Cordula (billed as Judith Delphine Hoersch)
647:Christian Ernst as Fußballspieler FC Ruhrgold
638:Christoph Kanne as Fußballspieler FC Ruhrgold
632:Sebastian Klein as Fußballspieler FC Ruhrgold
629:Daniel Edingloh as Fußballspieler FC Ruhrgold
8:
644:Malte Kossleck as Fußballspieler FC Ruhrgold
584:Heinrich Weitz as referee (Schiedsrichter) 1
261:kissing another player Tobias on the mouth.
16:2004 German film directed by Sherry Hormann
635:Detlev Henke as Fußballspieler FC Ruhrgold
623:Willi Schaaf as Fußballspieler FC Ruhrgold
617:Lutz Herdener as Fußballspieler FC Boldrup
608:Martin Watson as Fußballspieler FC Boldrup
605:Daniel Careno as Fußballspieler FC Boldrup
596:Stefan Nüsser as Fußballspieler FC Boldrup
27:
18:
780:
778:
776:
774:
772:
770:
626:Marc Gößlig as Fußballspieler FC Ruhrgold
602:David Careno as Fußballspieler FC Boldrup
620:Jan Platte as Fußballspieler FC Ruhrgold
391:as Bernhard (billed as Tobias Vandieken)
788:(in German). HM-Film.de. Archived from
766:
650:Eric Beta as Fußballspieler FC Ruhrgold
614:Oli Scheel as Fußballspieler FC Boldrup
897:Catsoulis, Jeannette (28 April 2006).
548:Mohammad-Ali Behboudi as Ercin's Vater
530:Heup Henning Heup as Gay Firefighter 2
7:
786:"Männer wie wir, Kinofilm 2003/2004"
545:Sybille J. Schedwill as Jan's Mutter
539:Edilton Pereira Da Cruz as Ronaldino
213:, UK title: Balls) is a 2004 German
566:Franz-Josef Neumann as Harleyfahrer
536:Edesson Batista De Jesus as Ronaldo
527:Thomas Fischer as Gay Firefighter 1
524:Sascha Herzogenrath as transvestite
1010:LGBT-related romantic comedy films
755:List of association football films
578:Markus Meisinger as FC Boldrup Fan
446:as Pregnant lady (Schwangere Frau)
428:as Kunde in der Bäckerei, Customer
14:
975:German association football films
581:J. Geraldo Datovo as Samba-Truppe
985:LGBT-related coming-of-age films
980:LGBT-related sports comedy films
965:Films scored by Martin Todsharow
960:Films directed by Sherry Hormann
587:Willi Meuser as Schiedsrichter 2
1025:Buena Vista International films
590:Oskar Bläser as Trainer Boldrup
575:Wolfgang Jansen as Harleyfahrer
572:Dennis Schenkel as Harleyfahrer
995:Football mass media in Germany
871:Harvey, Dennis (5 July 2005).
1:
569:Markus Kaiser as Harleyfahrer
560:Klaus Schwen as Harleyfahrer
294:to turn against themselves.
955:2000s German-language films
563:Frank Krebs as Harleyfahrer
1041:
970:2004 romantic comedy films
557:Rolf Vogel as Harleyfahrer
542:Judith Döker as Prostitute
533:Michael von Burg as Martin
1000:German LGBT-related films
990:2000s sports comedy films
521:Marcel Nievelstein as Jan
138:Buena Vista International
26:
152:7 October 2004
1015:2004 LGBT-related films
727:Joshua Katzman of the
470:as beer garden Guest 2
464:as beer garden Guest 1
361:as Wirt, Ticket seller
1005:Films shot in Cologne
551:Max Hopp as Steffen
438:Mariele Millowitsch
407:Lisa Maria Potthoff
353:Maximilian Brückner
247:Maximilian Brückner
1020:2000s German films
904:The New York Times
742:The New York Times
704:Critical reception
486:Hans-Joachim Bauer
325:as Mutter (Mother)
56:Benedikt Gollhardt
845:Katzman, Joshua.
710:review aggregator
389:Tobias van Dieken
331:as Susanne jung 2
319:as Vater (Father)
307:as Susanne jung 1
270:Borussia Dortmund
192:
191:
97:Magda Habernickel
1032:
916:
915:
913:
911:
894:
888:
887:
885:
883:
873:"Guys and Balls"
868:
862:
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859:
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847:"Guys and Balls"
842:
836:
835:
833:
831:
807:
801:
800:
798:
797:
782:
722:weighted average
672:The Mighty Ducks
504:Christian Berkel
444:Ute Maria Lerner
421:
311:Leon Breitenborn
159:
157:
108:Martin Todsharow
80:Leon Breitenborn
31:
19:
1040:
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751:
720:, which uses a
714:Rotten Tomatoes
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681:
658:
653:
492:Billey Demirtas
480:Michael Kleiber
474:Andreas Schmidt
450:Nicholas Bodeux
434:as Trainer Karl
415:
367:as Rentner Rudi
343:as Cordula jung
335:Steven Wellmann
305:Eileen Eilender
300:
243:
223:German American
169:
162:
155:
153:
146:
129:
125:
124:Medienfonds GFP
123:
122:Hager Moss Film
118:
116:
98:
78:
76:Eileen Eilender
37:
17:
12:
11:
5:
1038:
1036:
1028:
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987:
982:
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942:
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930:Guys and Balls
924:
923:External links
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851:Chicago Reader
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813:Guys and Balls
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730:Chicago Reader
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661:Männer wie wir
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440:as Wirtin Elke
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371:Judith Hoersch
368:
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359:Willi Thomczyk
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337:as Ecki jung 2
332:
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314:
313:as Ecki jung 1
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227:Sherry Hormann
206:Männer wie wir
196:Guys and Balls
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134:Distributed by
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86:Cinematography
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46:Sherry Hormann
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34:Männer wie wir
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22:Guys and Balls
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792:on 2013-02-12
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510:Charly Hübner
508:
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403:as Udos Vater
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401:Felix Vörtler
399:
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395:Simon Solberg
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329:Anna Koesling
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215:sports comedy
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66:Kirsten Hager
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35:
30:
25:
20:
929:
908:. Retrieved
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880:. Retrieved
876:
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854:. Retrieved
850:
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825:Fandom, Inc.
818:
812:
805:
794:. Retrieved
790:the original
740:
734:
728:
726:
707:
670:
664:
660:
659:
488:as BVB Fan 2
482:as BVB Fan 1
426:Nikolai Will
377:Carlo Ljubek
365:Jochen Stern
341:Melody Sitta
289:
278:
263:
255:
244:
210:
209:, literally
205:
204:
195:
194:
193:
168:Running time
145:Release date
33:
830:22 December
498:Markus John
432:Rolf Zacher
416: [
349:as Udo jung
317:Dietmar Bär
285:Rolf Zacher
274:leather bar
211:Men like us
172:106 minutes
99:Eva Schnare
89:Hanno Lentz
62:Produced by
42:Directed by
36:film poster
950:2004 films
944:Categories
828:Retrieved
820:Metacritic
796:2011-11-26
761:References
718:Metacritic
669:(2001) or
462:Heppi Pohl
456:David Rott
452:as Ehemann
409:as Susanne
383:Mirko Lang
347:Jan Giffel
292:homophobia
281:David Rott
235:homophobia
156:2004-10-07
115:Production
52:Written by
910:8 January
882:8 January
856:8 January
506:as Rudolf
476:as Jürgen
468:Dirk Koch
385:as Tobias
225:director
117:companies
94:Edited by
749:See also
712:website
666:Hardball
656:Reaction
512:as Horst
494:as Ercin
422:as Klaus
413:Hans Löw
397:as Frank
266:Dortmund
251:Dortmund
229:about a
221:film by
185:Language
104:Music by
72:Starring
877:Variety
736:Variety
708:On the
458:as Sven
355:as Ecki
258:penalty
219:romance
180:Germany
177:Country
154: (
679:Awards
500:as Tom
379:as Udo
245:Ecki (
201:German
188:German
420:]
935:IMDb
912:2019
884:2019
858:2019
832:2022
298:Cast
241:Plot
933:at
231:gay
127:RTL
946::
901:.
875:.
849:.
823:.
817:.
769:^
418:de
237:.
203::
914:.
886:.
860:.
834:.
815:"
811:"
799:.
217:/
199:(
158:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
