LFG

I guarantee you that most of the other reviewers didn't even watch the film. It's a compelling and well-made documentary that will appeal to fans of the sport, regardless of whether or not they've been following the lawsuit.

Most of the other reviewers have said they haven't even watched the film. If you care about women's rights and are not a caveman, this film is a great deep dive into the value institutions put on women's work. These women deserve equal pay.

"LFG" (2021 release; 104 min.) is a documentary about the US Women's National Soccer Team's law suit against the US Soccer Federation, demanding equal pay (as compared to the Men's National Soccer Team). As the movie opens, we get brief glimpses of Jessica McDonald, Megan Rapinoe, Kristen Press and others, explaining what "LFG" actually stands for (sorry, can't tell you or my review will violate review standards). We then go to "Day 1, March 8, 2019, International Women's Day", when the law suit is filed and the ladies explain in detail how things like money, training resources, traveling conditions (hotels and planes) are heavily skewed towards the Men's National Team, even though the Women's National Team is far more successful (multiple World Cups wins and Olympic Gold Medals). The law suit comes just 3 months before the 2019 World Cup opens in France. At this point we are 10 min. Into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from Oscar-nominated documentary makers (and husband and wife) Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine. Here they get seemingly unfettered access to many stars of the US Women's National Soccer Team as they battle for glory in the 2019 World Cup and they battle their employer (US Soccer Federation) for better (if not equal) pay. As to the documentary itself: it clearly shows the heavy toll the law suit takes on these ladies, while the USSF deploys any and all possible means (including law firms and lobbyists) to block the law suit at every possible level and instance, just disgraceful frankly. When Rapinoe makes a comment that then-President Trump trashes in a tweet, Rapinoe pushes back. Good for her. Lest anyone forget: Trump is the guy who tried to overthrow the US Congress because he didn't like the Nov '20 presidential election results (which showed who he is: a lyin' L-O-S-E-R). As to the substance of the law suit: this is an economic issue that should be easily resolved with a verified audit of the revenues generated by the Men's and the Women's soccer team. Instead the USSF argues that women are "inherently inferior" to men. No, really, they claim that with a straight face. Bottom line: this documentary is inspirational on so many levels. Hats off to the makers of this film, and of course to the women soccer players, who under tremendous pressure deliver on and off the field with grace and determination and skill (and whereas the US Men's National Soccer team embarrassed the game and didn't even qualify for the most recent World Cup).

"LFG" premiered at the recent Tribeca Film Festival and then went straight to HBO Max a few days ago, where I caught it the other night. If you have any interest in the state of soccer in this country, or how women continue to face gender discrimination to this very day, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Almost every claim made by the lawyer in the documentary is a bold-faced lie.

-The women's team was offered the exact same pay structure as the men, but they did not want that contract, they collectively bargained for a different type of contract. Afterwards they realized that the original contract meant they would earn more, and so they claimed discrimination. Let me emphasis : They claim the contract that they wanted, that they negotiated for (because they didn't like the pay structure of the men's team) is discrimination against them. A complete joke.

-This contract includes paid maternal leave, health care plans, and about 2 dozen other benefits that the men's team simply does not get.

-This contract meant that when all soccer was cancelled due to covid, the women's team continued getting their guaranteed 100,000 payment. The men earned 0 dollars during this season.

-So if anything, the men's team gets to argue pay discrimination, not the women's team.

-The women's team wasn't being paid less than the men's team, they were being paid MORE. Not just in total, but on a PER MATCH basis.

-The women's team gets a substantially larger cut from the women's world cup earnings than the men from the men's world cup.

The women's team does not want equal pay. They want the low risk contract that they had previously, combined with the high reward that the men's team wants. In other words, they want a contract that is superior to the men's contract in every way.

This whole documentary is nothing but lies and a PR spin to back up pure entitlement.

Edit : Addressing some of the arguments made in the other reviews :

-"The women's team brings in more revenue." No, no they don't. They bring in more revenue in the United States, but international soccer is an international sport. On an international level, the women's team brings in substantially less revenue. The women's world cup finale only brings in as many viewers as the average men's world cup match. And even if only the revenue in the US counts, the revenue split was about 100 thousand out of around 50 million. The difference in revenue brought in was SMALLER than the difference in pay. And to emphasize this again : The women's team earned MORE. Not just in total, not just per match, but also relative to the amount of revenue generated in the United States!

-"They work 3 times as hard." That's another demonstrable lie. The women's team only has to play a maximum of 3 matches in order to secure a spot on the women's cup. The men's team has to play a maximum of 10 matches to secure a spot on the men's cup. In 2018, there were 210 men's world teams who try to qualify, while there were only 46 women's teams in 2019. Which leads to the next argument.

-"The women's team is better, so they deserve more." The women's team is only better relative to the other women's teams than the men's team is to the other men's teams. Only 4 other women's teams have won the world cup, while 8 different teams have won the men's world cup. Considering national women's teams tend to not have any other women on the same level to play scrimmage matches against, they instead opt to play against teenage boys. At which point they lost 7-1 to boys under 15. They're not even better than middle school boys, how are they better than adult men?

How well this documentary is made is only surpassed by the message it conveys. A great watch!