''Balls Out'' is a 2014 American live-action/animated

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 o ...

directed by

Andrew Disney Andrew Disney is a Texas filmmaker and writer. He has attended the Tisch School of the Arts, where he received a BFA in Film Production. Filmography As director *''What's It Worth'' (2003, also writer) *''Frank's Last Shot'' (2007) *'' Searchi ...

, based on a script by Bradley Jackson. The film stars

Jake Lacy Jake Lacy (born February 14, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Pete Miller on the ninth and final season of ''The Office'', as Fran Parker in the fourth and fifth seasons of HBO's ''Girls'', and his role as Shane Patt ...

Beck Bennett Christopher Beck Bennett (born October 1, 1984) is an American actor, comedian, and writer, who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' for eight seasons (2013–2021). Before then, he performed in AT&T "It's Not Complicated" commercials in ...

Jay Pharoah Jared Antonio Farrow (born October 14, 1987), better known by his stage name Jay Pharoah, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and impressionist. Pharoah was a cast member on NBC's sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2010 to 201 ...

Nikki Reed Nicole Houston Reed (born May 17, 1988) is an American actress known for her portrayal of vampire Rosalie Hale in '' The Twilight Saga'' (2008–2012). She became known in 2003, after the release of the film ''Thirteen'', directed by Catherine ...

Kate McKinnon Kate McKinnon Berthold (born January 6, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She is known for her character work and celebrity impressions on the sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (2012–2022), of which she was a cas ...

DC Pierson DC Pierson is an American comedian, author, and actor. He is best known for his involvement in the sketch and improvisational comedy group Derrick Comedy. Early life and education Pierson was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended New York Uni ...

, Nick Kocher, Brian McElhaney,

Nick Rutherford Nicholas Rutherford (born August 7, 1985) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and co-founder of the sketch comedy group Good Neighbor. He has performed live stand up and sketch comedy in Los Angeles and New York. He was a writer for ''Saturday ...

and

Gabriel Luna Gabriel Luna is an American actor and producer. He is known for his roles as Robbie Reyes / Ghost Rider on the ABC action superhero series '' Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'', set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tony Bravo on the El Rey Net ...

, and focuses on a group of college

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

s that decide to form an

intramural Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, or a set geographic region. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words ''intra muros'' meaning " ...

football team before graduating. The film, originally titled ''Intramural'', stars cast members of comedy groups

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

Derrick Comedy Derrick Comedy was an Internet sketch comedy group from New York University. The group has a large YouTube following. Their YouTube channel has over 200 thousand subscribers and amassed over 100 million total video views as of 2020. Some notable Y ...

BriTANicK BriTANicK () is an internet sketch comedy duo from Atlanta, Georgia, that consists of Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher. McElhaney graduated from the Atlanta International School and Kocher graduated from The Paideia School. They attended New Yor ...

, and Good Neighbor. The film was picked up by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

and

Orion Pictures Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...

and was given a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

on film and

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

on June 19, 2015.

Synopsis

Caleb (

) is a fifth-year senior preparing to graduate. Not quite ready to settle into the life, expectations, and realities outside of his college, he decides that he wants to reassemble The Panthers, an intramural football team that had to shut down after one of the team members ended up getting partially paralyzed for life. Doing so is going to be far more difficult than he expected.

Cast

as Caleb Fuller *

as Meredith Downs *

as Vicky Albrecht *

as Dick Downs * Nick Kocher as Grant Rosenfalis * Brian McElhaney as Chance Gilman *

as Vinnie *Will Elliott as George Irwin *Kirk C. Johnson as Ace *Sam Eidson as Jimmy Harris *

as Hank *

as Dan Albert *

as Bill Costas * Michael Hogan as Mr. Albrecht *

Clint Howard Clinton Engle Howard (born April 20, 1959) is an American actor. He is the second son born to American actors Rance and Jean Howard, and younger brother of actor and director Ron Howard. His 200-plus acting credits include feature films such as ...

as Philip Bronson *John Merriman as Fireman *

Mike MacRae Mike MacRae (born July 29, 1977) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, producer, director and writer. Early life and career A native of St. Louis, Missouri, MacRae moved to Houston, Texas, in 1995 where he graduated from Rice University in ...

as Doctor

Production

The film's script was written by Bradley Jackson during his

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

year at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, where he was inspired to create the script after listening to his friends brag about their intramural sports games. Jackson expressed his desire to have Andrew Disney direct the film, as he greatly enjoyed his work. Nikki Reed was later confirmed to be performing in the film, as were

and Michael Hogan. Jackson and Disney raised funds for the film through a successful ''

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

'' campaign, and filming began on July 12, 2013, in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

and continued for six weeks, ending on August 22, 2013.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

on April 19, 2014. The film went on to screen at the

Montclair Film Festival Montclair Film is a nonprofit most well known for organizing the annual Montclair Film Festival (MFF) usually held in late April, early May in Montclair, New Jersey. The festival showcases new works from American and international filmmakers, and ...

on May 4, 2014. and the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

on June 6, 2014. The film was picked up by

and

and was retitled ''Balls Out''. The film was released in a

and

on June 19, 2015.

Reception

The film was met with positive reviews from film critics. It currently holds an 80% approval rating 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 Wan ...

, based on 15 reviews. Andy Webster 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 ...

'' praised the film for its self-aware humor and talented cast for having comedic timing, singling out Kate McKinnon as a standout, concluding that "she displays talent too vast for the small screen. Now watch her career rocket." Nick Prigge of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yo ...

'' gave a mixed review of the film, saying that it was at odds with itself of being either a straight sports film or a satire of the genre. Kyle Anderson of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' said that while there's some funny commentary on the absurdity of sports films he found the film less a feature film and more a long television sketch. It won both the Cinema Dulce Best of Fest and Best Actor (Jake Lacy) awards at the Hill Country Film Festival and the Best Guilty Pleasure Audience Award at the

. It also won the Best Sport Comedy award in

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published si ...

's 2015 Sports Market Movie Awards.

References

External links

* *{{IMDb title, 2937254, Intramural
Kickstarter campaign
2014 films 2014 comedy films 2014 independent films 2010s sports comedy films American films with live action and animation American football films American independent films American sports comedy films Films shot in Austin, Texas Kickstarter-funded films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Orion Pictures films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films