Ladybugs (film)

Ladybugs is a 1992 American sports-comedy film starring Rodney Dangerfield and directed by Sidney J. Furie. Dangerfield plays a Denver businessman who takes over a girls' soccer team sponsored by the company that employs him. The film also stars Jackée Harry as his assistant coach, Ilene Graff as his girlfriend, Jonathan Brandis as his girlfriend's son, and Vinessa Shaw as his boss's daughter.

Then Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda has a cameo, as do Blake Clark and longtime Dangerfield friend Chuck McCann.

Chester Lee is desperate for a promotion at work and some respect from his boss. To impress his boss, he fabricates a story of having been an excellent soccer player in his youth. However, he gets badgered into coaching a girls' team called the Ladybugs, sponsored by his company. Dragging his assistant Julie along as assistant coach, Chester figures the gig will be easy since the Ladybugs are a dynasty, 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, and the rest of the team has never played soccer before. The new team, which includes the boss's daughter, Kimberly, are clueless and make a dreadful start to the season, receiving no help from coach Chester. His boss demands better results by the time he comes back from vacation.

In his personal life, Chester is engaged to Bess, who has a son named Matthew from a previous marriage. Matthew happens to be a great soccer player, but poor grades and neglecting to finish his homework get him kicked off the team. Chester explains his predicament to Matthew, admits he knows nothing about soccer, and begs him for help. He then invites Matthew to watch the Ladybugs practice and offer advice, which inspires Chester to persuade him to dress up as a girl and play on the team, under the alias of "Martha." Matthew has a crush on Kimberly from school, which partly convinces him to follow through with the plan. Only Chester and Julie know Martha's secret identity.

In his first game with the team, Matthew plays selfishly and has an unsportsmanlike attitude. He quits the deal, leaving Chester feeling defeated and ready to tell Bess he lied about the promotion, afraid it will ruin their engagement. Feeling bad for Chester, Matthew reconsiders at the last minute. Chester teaches Matthew how to act more polite and ladylike, and they go dress shopping together. During the next game, Matthew is more helpful and cooperative. He changes the coach's lineup, passes to his teammates, and encourages them while they score goals. Chester wants to take a player named Penny out, but Matthew wants to give her another chance. A motivated Penny dribbles the ball and assists a goal. They win the game, and the team celebrates with "Martha."

Although the team is playing well, Kimberly is still struggling with her confidence, leading Chester's boss to demand that Chester remove her from the team. "Martha" comforts Kimberly, who decides to pay her new friend a surprise visit at home. Matthew switches into his Martha costume, but when his mom and Chester arrive, he rushes back into his normal appearance to greet them and secretly explain the problem to Chester. "Martha" successfully lures Kimberly out of the house, but then runs into his mom who sees him in the dress and wig, prompting Matthew to explain his whole deal with Chester. Bess is furious at Chester for involving her son in his scheme. Both Chester and Matthew are gloomy, but show up for the final championship game.

They decide they can't use Martha anymore if they want a chance at Bess forgiving Chester. Matthew hears that Kimberly's dad forced her to stay home, so he goes to her house to show her that he is Martha and bring her to the game. Chester informs the Ladybugs they will be playing without Martha. They are disappointed, and trail 3–0 in the first half as a result. At halftime, Matthew reveals his true identity to the rest of his teammates. His honesty fires the team up and they bounce back. Kimberly scores the winning goal on a penalty kick and the team celebrates.

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 in wigs to impress his boss who thought the cheating was innovative. After his boss congratulates him on his career and marriage, Chester says to the audience, "I finally got some respect!"

Sidney J. Furie became involved with directing Ladybugs when producer Andre Morgan, who'd previously worked with Furie as a producer on The Boys in Company C, told Furie of a project he and Albert S. Ruddy were working on that was similar in concept to The Bad News Bears.^[5] Furie accepted the directing job more out of a desire to work than anything else and claimed it was one of the best paid jobs he'd ever had working in the industry.^[5] For the casting of the character of Matthew both Jonathan Brandis and Leonardo DiCaprio auditioned for the role with the producers ultimately deciding to go with Brandis as DiCaprio looked too convincing in drag which they felt killed the joke.^[5]

Shooting took place from July through September 1991 in and around Denver, Colorado.^[6]

Paramount struggled with how to market the film and considered changing the title, as it clashed with Dangerfield's image as a profane comic.^[1] The film grossed almost US$15 million in the US and Canada, while Warner Bros. and Morgan Creek International obtained the foreign distribution rights.^[7]

Ladybugs was panned by critics.^[1] On Rotten Tomatoes holds an approval rating of 14% with an average rating of 3.9/10, based on 21 reviews.^[8] Audiences however polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.^[9]

Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film flip-flops on its themes and "has the stale, slick, worked-over look of standard studio product".^[10] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote: "Even when the material is feeble, as it is here, Mr. Dangerfield can sometimes be funny."^[11]

• List of association football films

• Ladybugs at IMDb
• Ladybugs at the TCM Movie Database
• Ladybugs at Box Office Mojo
• Ladybugs at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ladybugs at the Sports Movie Guide