The Longshots - a great movie for girls

Sometimes the best movies are the ones you catch on a late Saturday morning, curled up on the sofa, still in your jammies.

This is how I came upon 'The Longshots ' starring Keke Palmer and Ice Cube.

Who knew I'd be a huge Ice Cube fan after this?

'The Longshots ' is based on the true story about the first girl to play in a Pop Warner football playoff game. Keke Palmer plays Jasmine Plummer and spent weeks learning how to throw a football...and throw it well.

Ice Cube plays her uncle who has nothing better to do than keep an eye on Jasmine after school and ends up teaching her how to toss the old pigskin.

There is a LOT more to the story...Jasmine's dad is lame, kids at school are mean, her mom works hard, her uncle cleans himself up. I thought the story developed well, especially for kids. And the characters are believeable, and fun to watch

Why 'The Longshots' works for girls

First, there's the obvious, girls-can-do-anything lesson of course. There was also the popular-kids-can-be-mean-and-suck lesson as Jasmine suffers through being new at school. Watching 'The Longshots' with the twins provided an opportunity to discuss things like popularity and bullying, but also staying true to who you are, and being strong in the face of adversity. Also, I touched on the fact that it's not a bad thing to have some solid guy friends in your life as you get older.

The Mister thinks the biggest lesson to learn watching 'The Longshots' is Football-is-Cool, and I have to say there was a lot of cheering going on in my family room during the movie. And I swear I saw some football throwing later on that day in my backyard but I'm not entirely sure because my vision was blurred by all the clothing changes that also happened. Girls will still be girls...even during football.

What other great movies have you seen for girls?

Janine

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