This was, I think, a metaphor for the state of sports in Boston after the first two New England Patriots Super Bowl victories. The All Out High baseball team is of course the Red Sox, doomed to never win (at least in the eyes of the city). The All Out High soccer team, successful and snooty and possessed of innumerable chicks in miniskirts, is the Patriots. The struggle of the baseball team to make the Nationals under a goofy laconic manager is the struggle of the Red Sox to make the World Series under Terry Francona.
This interpretation is perhaps assisted by the guy in the Patriots jersey I saw in the line for Ultraman Max. Not sure. Also, I’m not sure what the ending of the movie says about what I should expect from Boston sports this year. Perhaps best not to dwell on it.
And come to think of it, Terry Francona didn’t wear a mask at any point during the World Series year. Maybe he’s not that much like the All Out High manager after all. (Yes, I did get another dose of masked wrestler.)
Anyways, I’d been hoping this would be cut from the same cloth as Cutie Honey; it was. Huge high energy broad comedy. There’s a big Shaolin Soccer influence as well, mostly in the sports wirework. Can’t begrudge a sports comedy that, and it’s not as if Shaolin Soccer wasn’t heavily influenced by over the top anime.
Fun romp. I liked it immensely.
Grade: A.
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