Eddie (1996)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This film shows Whoopi Goldberg at her big mouth wise cracking best. The film is about a rich chairman who buys the New York Nicks and try's to turn a losing team into a freak show to make money. So he hires a big mouth fan as the head coach who he believes can't coach. The first half of the film is funniest as Whoopi Goldberg tells the Nicks coaches what she really thinks of them. Some of the misfit players are quite good to. There is a Russian who can't speak any English, a great player except he won't pass the ball and a player who is more interested in his failing marriage. And let's not forget the showman owner, who rides a real horse on the court, wants to "give the folks a good show", and sees a better money-making opportunity once Eddie turns the team around.Sure it was kind of predictable, and as many have observed, it pretty much derails by the midway point. But Whoopi Goldberg as the Knicks fan-turned-coach gives a spirited, touching performance. Her initial awkward moments with team members ring true enough. The ways that attempts to reach out to team members range from the plausible (providing ad hoc marriage counseling to one) to the highly unlikely (learning enough Russian to begin to bridge the cultural and linguistic gap of a Russian born player). The contrived, feel-good ending brings the film down several notches on the originality scale. But Whoopi Goldberg gives it all she's got as does the rest of the cast. They wind up giving the movie pretty much all the appeal that it's got.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Non-stop hilarity. Genius Film-making. Unworldly writing. Heavenly Acting. This movie has it all.This movie gets an A+++ from me. Some people might say "You're Crazy Man This Movie is worse than an alligators ball sack". TO those people I say look no farther than Greg Ostertags genius acting. Why he hasn't been in more movies is beyond me.By the way. All that I said above is untrue. This movie is horrible. Whoopi Goldberg is horrible. Greg Ostertag is horrible (on the basketball court and the big screen). I currently rate this movie below the Power Rangers movie. Thats right. I rate this movie BELOW The Power Rangers Movie. Save yourself that free rental at Blockbuster and don't get this film.

This is a comedy-fantasy, people -- not a documentary. The pacing is bouncy and rollicking. The performances are precisely what they should be -- neither "villain" is one-dimensional or over-the-top, but just menacing enough in the right amounts, and the ways in which Eddie triumphs over each of them are quite clever.Mayor Koch's cameo is hysterical, as is the bit with Stacey's Mom. Ostertag shows good comic timing. The background of Eddie is just touching enough without being maudlin. The transition of the Knicks from selfish losers to re-motivated winners is handled just right for a comedy-fantasy. This is at least in a class with Angels In The Outfield as an enjoyable comedy-fantasy.

If genocide and SIDS weren't enough to convince you that there is no altruistic higher-power, then Eddie will set you straight. Eddie did more than follow a formula. It told you the formula as it was fulfilled so that you could tell that they followed it. Have you ever seen a movie that involved sports? Eddie stole from that movie, or at least the spirit of that movie. The characters are so thin that they are considered by physicists to be vacuums, and Whoopie Goldberg phoned it in the way a tired grad-student phones in a bomb threat to get out of a mid-term. If your faith is weak as it is, don't test it via the Eddie litmus test.