Remember the early 90's when the ABC Network had a lineup of just great shows. One of those shows was "Roseanne". The first installment of the show, not the second one. It's star, Roseanne Barr (or I think she was going by Roseanne Arnold during this time) was brash and controversial. And still is to this day, apparently. Anyways, ABC decided to make a football movie with her called "Backfield In Motion".

"Backfield In Motion" premiered in November 1991 on ABC. They didn't have it as an after-school special, so they put it on prime time. The movie is about a widowed real estate agent (Roseanne) who moves to the suburbs with her teenage son, played by Johnny Galecki. Galecki portrayed Sara Gilbert's boyfriend/future husband on the show Roseanne. He is now more famous as Leonard on the hit show "The Big Bang Theory". The story goes that Roseanne's character wants to play football during a PTA meeting. Everyone scoffs at the idea. Then she proposes a mothers vs. sons football game, which everyone again scoffs at. But the vice principal is enamored to the idea. By the way, the vice principal is portrayed by Tom Arnold, who during this time was married to Roseanne and it seemed as if everything Roseanne did, Tom Arnold was soon to follow. Remember the sitcom "The Jackie Thomas Show"? Roseanne's character convinces the other mothers to join in this game, due to the neglect from their husbands and sons. Arnold joins in training and coaching these women for the game, while he pursues one of the mothers. Take a guess who. The game begins and the mothers' team have actual men dressed as cheerleaders, full wig and everything. Picture the mid-90's Bud Light "Ladies Night" commercial. The mothers' ended up winning the game. Galecki's character wins the heart of a girl, which is put on the backburner to Roseanne and Tom's romance. Roll the credits.

Now by reading this, you would think that I'm about to lay into this review with an iron fist........but? The movie is enjoyable to watch. It was cheesy at times and does try to be too funny. In one scene, someone asked Roseanne to sing the National Anthem and she responded "Me sing the National Anthem? No way!"obviously a dig of her 1990 performance before a Padres game. Roseanne is brash in this film, but not controversial as she usually is. It is a good story about a mother trying to hold on to her son before he moves on in life. It also features the 1969 hit song by Mel & Tim of the same time. If you can find the DVD or even a VHS tape of this film, pop it in and watch a family friendly flick with some hijinks spliced into it.

Even though, I still think that Roseanne and Tom dominated this production for some reason.

(Credits: IMDB, Wikipedia, YouTube)

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