The plot ins't that complicated and definitely nothing new, falling well into the "boy meets girl and falls for her" category. So in theory we could have a formulaic teenage rom-com.
What in my opinion makes "Amors baller" stand out is the fact the story is developed in a very nice way, as actually seen through the eyes and the heart of young Lucas.
Lucas casually meets the good-looking Susanne, who happens to play football, so he decides to be a football player too just to be around her. He doesn't really care about playing, actually he has NO football background and he'll end up being brought up to the big football tournament because (as the coach himself said) "there's plenty of room on the bench".
During the tournament Lucas and Susanne get closer, but there's a catch... Susanne's boyfriend Petter is the captain and the leader of the male's team (the one with an actual shot at winning the prestigious Norway Cup). Susanne herself doesn't seem to care much about Petter, just as little as he cares about her. What matters is, however, the disruption the sentimental turmoil brings into the locker room... there's a final to play but nobody's in the right mindset to deliver.
There's a high price to pay for Lucas' sentimental escapade... He comes to blows with Petter, he says hurtful words to Susanne and finally he even falls out with his (only) friend Stian, who, as coach-in-the-making, is worried about the locker room's harmony and is then outraged about Lucas chasing the captain's girl the night before the big game.
In the end they'll all do the right thing and most loose threads will be resolved, but in a relatively soft "happy ending". All the characters will get something out of their adventure, but not really in a stereotyped and sappy "happily ever after"... The future is still much open, as it ought to be for teenagers.
All in all the movie is an enjoyable coming-of-age story without the heavy-handedness of other similar flicks.
Sure, there are a couple of flimsy bits (namely, the usual "pretty girl falls for goofy guy clearly below her league" one), but the plot is quite believable and most of the twists and turns are something real-life teenagers could or would do in the same situation.
The shy guy trying to impress the girl, the "trophy girlfriend" who gets tired of her status, the unforgiving clique excluding and ribbing the new guy, the sex-starved guy, the self-absorbed star... All those are situations that can happen in real life, and the movie handles them in a very honest way, without cheesing them up too much.
On a side-note, it was nice to see, for a change, a sport sub-plot where there's no underdog. The Grimsrud team is a serious contender for the trophy, and Lucas never steps in as the proverbial underdog who ends up scoring the winning point... Finally the "good guys" don't win the tournament, the main character doesn't save the day (actaully Lucas plays a couple of minutes of "garbage time" early in the tournament and doesn't even get the ball once...) and the ending isn't actually an ending... More like the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new one.
"Amors Baller" is a decent teen flick that managed to avoid getting too sappy or too over the top. It's not a laugh-out-loud comedy, it's not a maudlin teen drama...
Don't expect "American Pie", don't expect some pseudo-deep tripe like "All the real girls"... it's just a nice story and the closest you can get to realism while keeping it cinematically enjoyable. And in my book that's a good enough achievement for a teen movie.
7/10
What in my opinion makes "Amors baller" stand out is the fact the story is developed in a very nice way, as actually seen through the eyes and the heart of young Lucas.
Lucas casually meets the good-looking Susanne, who happens to play football, so he decides to be a football player too just to be around her. He doesn't really care about playing, actually he has NO football background and he'll end up being brought up to the big football tournament because (as the coach himself said) "there's plenty of room on the bench".
During the tournament Lucas and Susanne get closer, but there's a catch... Susanne's boyfriend Petter is the captain and the leader of the male's team (the one with an actual shot at winning the prestigious Norway Cup). Susanne herself doesn't seem to care much about Petter, just as little as he cares about her. What matters is, however, the disruption the sentimental turmoil brings into the locker room... there's a final to play but nobody's in the right mindset to deliver.
There's a high price to pay for Lucas' sentimental escapade... He comes to blows with Petter, he says hurtful words to Susanne and finally he even falls out with his (only) friend Stian, who, as coach-in-the-making, is worried about the locker room's harmony and is then outraged about Lucas chasing the captain's girl the night before the big game.
In the end they'll all do the right thing and most loose threads will be resolved, but in a relatively soft "happy ending". All the characters will get something out of their adventure, but not really in a stereotyped and sappy "happily ever after"... The future is still much open, as it ought to be for teenagers.
All in all the movie is an enjoyable coming-of-age story without the heavy-handedness of other similar flicks.
Sure, there are a couple of flimsy bits (namely, the usual "pretty girl falls for goofy guy clearly below her league" one), but the plot is quite believable and most of the twists and turns are something real-life teenagers could or would do in the same situation.
The shy guy trying to impress the girl, the "trophy girlfriend" who gets tired of her status, the unforgiving clique excluding and ribbing the new guy, the sex-starved guy, the self-absorbed star... All those are situations that can happen in real life, and the movie handles them in a very honest way, without cheesing them up too much.
On a side-note, it was nice to see, for a change, a sport sub-plot where there's no underdog. The Grimsrud team is a serious contender for the trophy, and Lucas never steps in as the proverbial underdog who ends up scoring the winning point... Finally the "good guys" don't win the tournament, the main character doesn't save the day (actaully Lucas plays a couple of minutes of "garbage time" early in the tournament and doesn't even get the ball once...) and the ending isn't actually an ending... More like the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new one.
"Amors Baller" is a decent teen flick that managed to avoid getting too sappy or too over the top. It's not a laugh-out-loud comedy, it's not a maudlin teen drama...
Don't expect "American Pie", don't expect some pseudo-deep tripe like "All the real girls"... it's just a nice story and the closest you can get to realism while keeping it cinematically enjoyable. And in my book that's a good enough achievement for a teen movie.
7/10