Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Männer wie wir" or "Guys and Balls" or "Balls" or "Lattenknaller" is a German movie from 2004, so this one is already 13 years old now. If you read some of the titles, you can already exactly expect what you are in for. It is a mix of gay-themed film and football movie. The protagonist gets fired from his football team when they realize he is a homosexual. As a consequence, he builds his own football team and plays against his former team in the end and of course you already know how it will go out. But predictability is the least of the problems this 100-minute movie has. The biggest problem is of course the screenplay. It is packed with clichés and the action has nothing to do with realism. And I could list a 100 examples for it. What do you want to hear? A man never knows he was a homosexual until he lies close to a friend. A team of complete rookies wins against a team of trained football players. The gays show some movements and actions in play that nobody could ever put on display that has not played football for a long time. Random gays pop out left and right when he is looking for his teammates. He does not care about his new-found sexual identity, but is all about this project and about revenge. Very likable huh? So yeah it is a really really bad movie and in my opinion, it is try-hard comedies like this one (or dramas as well) which hurt the tolerance in our society a lot more than they help it. The acting in here is frequently over the top and the film itself just does not make any sense at all. If it's a comedy, it's never funny despite the very visible and very failed attempts by the filmmakers to make us laugh. If it's a drama, than it's never relevant or realistic. If it's a sports movie, then the underdog element was elaborated on extremely poorly and that's the only aspect they even tried to make an impact with. It's very telling that writer Benedikt Gollhardt has never worked on another full feature film, but has a lot of weak television stuff under his belt. So yeah, there is not a single perspective from which you can enjoy this film or take it seriously at all. This is especially disappointing, almost dangerous, because this subject here (gay people in sports) is an important one and actually almost the only area in which discrimination against homosexuals is still present today, more than a decade after this film came out. It's not in society in general in my opinion, but maybe the depiction of the subject in films like this one is one reason why people are still very intolerant in this area. I don't think you should see this film. I gave it a major thumbs-down and it certainly is a contender for worst (German) movie of 2004.

bob_bear Stumbled over this film on Amazon.com. Had never heard of its release but the three reviews gave it five stars and rave reviews so being a lover of German movies I bought a copy...Have to say that I was not impressed. The production values are cheap, the story is derivative, the characters are less than engaging and for a comedy it is surprisingly short on laughs.I wanted to like this but I just found it lackluster and dull. Or maybe I expected more of independent German cinema than a gay spin on The Full Monty and a cast of stereotypes.There are bits in the film that make no sense at all, like one of the Leather Bears trying to get Ecki in a sling --like he'd even look at him twice? Or the vengeful ex-wife turning up at the match but ending up cheering for her estranged gay husband? Bunkum is not the word! Well, at least it explains the movies UK title, I suppose...

hesketh27 I really enjoyed this lighthearted 'feelgood' comedy. OK, it might be a bit old - fashioned and predictable when it comes to portraying gay stereotypes, but it is an affectionate and completely inoffensive film that passed an enjoyable 90 minutes or so for me. The film is populated by a cast of likable characters led by the sweet Maximillian Bruckner as 'Ecki', a young man who plays in goal for a smalltown football team and who is outed as gay by his teammates. The team and some of the townsfolk are particularly cruel to both Ecki and his parents following the 'outing'. (The running gag of the old man coming into the family's bakery shop and telling 'gay' jokes is quite funny however.) The film concentrates on Ecki's determination to put together a gay football team that can take on his tormentors and win. This leads to an enjoyable series of adventures in which his family, particularly his father, have to come to terms with his sexuality and in which he manages to find love along the way. Altogether a nice fairy-tale (excuse the pun!) - everyone even manages to live happily ever- after! See it and enjoy!

Cummie501 Let's face the facts - there is one dominant and popular area in Western society where homosexuality is still an absolute no-no, where it simply doesn't exist (officially of course) : And this is....? Yes, it's football. Excitement and fun for billions of people all around the globe. But although roughly 5% of mankind can be considered as gay or at least bisexual no professional player ever had his public coming-out. (But statistically speaking in every team there must be at least one..which would mean a minimum of 18-20 in the German Bundesliga alone)... This is the sociological background any critic should take into account before criticizing "Männer wie wir" too harsh. Yes, I agree, in some parts this film is a bit stereotypical, but the important and optimistic message counts more than its occasional lack of sophisticated and complex characterization. Maybe this is also one of the reasons why many heterosexuals (even the liberal and educated type) feel uneasy about this film. They simply don't want gays to enter one their last retreats of pure and sweaty straight manhood. And the notion that some of these queers might even turn out to be adequate opponents on the pitch (as it happened in "Männer wie wir") is just ...like finally loosing in a penalty shoot-out after a comfortable lead.