''Ladybugs'' is a 1992 American

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

starring Rodney Dangerfield and directed by Sidney J. Furie. Dangerfield plays a

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

businessman who takes over a girls soccer team that the company he works for sponsors. The film also stars

Jackée Harry Jacqueline Yvonne Harry (born August 14, 1956) is an American actress, comedian, and television personality. She is known for her starring roles as Sandra Clark, the nemesis of Mary Jenkins (played by Marla Gibbs), on the NBC TV series ''227'' ...

as his assistant coach,

Ilene Graff Ilene Susan Graff (born February 28, 1949) is an American actress and singer. Life and career The Queens, New York native began her professional career as a teenager when she performed as a background singer and commercial actress while attendi ...

as his girlfriend,

Jonathan Brandis Jonathan Gregory Brandis (April 13, 1976 – November 12, 2003) was an American actor. Beginning his career as a child model, Brandis moved on to acting in commercials and subsequently won television and film roles. Brandis made his acting debut ...

as his girlfriend's son, and

Vinessa Shaw Vinessa Elizabeth Shaw (born July 19, 1976) is an American film actress and model. She began her career as a child actor, and had her breakout role in Disney's 1993 Halloween comedy-fantasy film '' Hocus Pocus''. Shaw also appeared in '' Ladyb ...

as his boss' daughter. Then

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

manager

Tommy Lasorda Thomas Charles Lasorda (September 22, 1927 – January 7, 2021) was an American professional baseball pitcher and manager. He managed the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1976 through 1996. He was inducted into the Natio ...

has a cameo, as do Blake Clark and longtime Dangerfield friend Chuck McCann.

Plot

Chester Lee ( Rodney Dangerfield) is desperate for a promotion at work and some respect from his boss. To impress his boss, he claims to have been a good soccer player in his youth and is badgered into coaching a girls' team called the

Ladybug Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles ranging in size from . They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in Great Britain. Some entomologists prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as they ...

s. Dragging his assistant Julie (

) along as assistant coach, Chester figures the gig easy as the Ladybugs, sponsored by his company, are a

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

, having dominated previous seasons. If he can get this team to a championship, he will get the promotion. Unfortunately, only one player has returned for the new season. The new team, which includes the boss' daughter, Kimberly (

), are clueless, make a dreadful start to the season and the boss is less than impressed. In his personal life, Chester is engaged to Bess (

), who has a son, Matthew (

), from a previous marriage. Matthew just happens to be a great athlete, but poor grades get him kicked off the soccer team. Chester invites Matthew to watch the Ladybugs practice and to get some tips. Matthew has a crush on Kimberly from school, which partly inspires Chester to persuade him to dress like a girl and play for the team as "Martha". With only Chester, Matthew and Julie knowing Martha's secret identity, the team rallies through the season to reach the championship game. Kimberly befriends Martha, not knowing "she" is in fact Matthew. Just before the championship game, Bess finds out that Matthew has been dressing as a girl to play. Furious with Chester, she forces him to drop Matthew from the team. Kimberly, who has not been playing well, is also dropped at the request of Chester's boss. The Ladybugs trail 3-0 in the first half. At halftime, Matthew reveals his true identity to Kimberly and the rest of his teammates. His honesty fires the team up and with Chester's encouragement, Kimberly scores the winning goal on a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

. As the Ladybugs win the championship, Chester gets his promotion. Bess and Chester get married while Matthew and Kimberly begin dating. Chester is now managing the company's girls softball team, where the entire team are boys dressed as girls. After his boss congratulates him on his success, Chester says to the audience, "I finally got some respect!"

Cast

* Rodney Dangerfield as Coach Chester Lee *

as Julie Benson *

as Matthew/Martha *

as Bess *

as Kimberly Mullen *

Tom Parks Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

as Dave Mullen * Randall May as Championship Soccer trainer *

Jeanetta Arnette Jeannetta Arnette is an American actress. She became known for her television role as Miss Meara on the situation comedy ''Head of the Class''. She has also appeared in numerous films, including 1992's ''Ladybugs'' and 1999's '' Boys Don't Cry'' ...

as Glynnis Mullen * Crystal Cooke as Nancy Larimer (as LaCrystal Cooke) * Jennifer Frances Lee as Carmelita Chu * Vanessa Monique Rossel as Tina Velez * Johna Stewart-Bowden as Sally Anne Welfelt (as Johna Stewart) * Jandi Swanson as Penny Pester * Nancy Parsons as Coach Annie * Blake Clark as Coach Bull *

as Coach Cannoli

Production

Shooting took place from July through September 1991 in and around

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Release

Paramount struggled with how to market the film and considered changing the title, as it clashed with Dangerfield's image as a profane comic. The film grossed almost US$15 million in the US and Canada, while

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

and Morgan Creek International obtained the foreign distribution rights.

Reception

''Ladybugs'' was panned by critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

holds an approval rating of 12% with an average rating of 3.69/10, based on 17 reviews. Audiences however polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. Michael Wilmington of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' wrote that the film flip-flops on its themes and "has the stale, slick, worked-over look of standard studio product".

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote: "Even when the material is feeble, as it is here, Mr. Dangerfield can sometimes be funny."

References

External links

* * * * *
''Ladybugs''
at th
Sports Movie Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladybugs (Film) 1992 films 1992 comedy films 1990s sports comedy films American association football films American sports comedy films Cross-dressing in American films Films directed by Sidney J. Furie Films scored by Richard Gibbs Films set in Colorado Films shot in Colorado Paramount Pictures films Warner Bros. films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films