DCOM Flashback Fridays: Ray J's Review - "Alley Cats Strike"🎬🔙🎳

Good evening everyone😄 While this was probably my least favorite DCOM that I've revisited so far for my movie review series, "Alley Cats Strike" is still an overall enjoyable watch!

The film follows a club of teen bowlers at West Appleton Junior High, who like to keep things old school. Alex (played by Kyle Schmid), Elisa (played by a young Kaley Cuoco), Ken (played by Joey Wilcots), and Delia (played by Mimi Paley) are all apart this tight knit group of bowlers, but when a basketball game at their school ends in a tie against the rival city's junior high school, things get a bit complicated, and here's why. The two cities of East Appleton, and West Appleton have been going at it forever to determine who will be the rightful victor of a trophy called "The Mighty Apple", and now both city's junior high bowling clubs must compete face to face to determine the outcome. Todd McLemore (played by Robert Ri'Chard) is the son of the mayor of West Appleton, and star of the junior high basketball team, but when the school and his Dad receive word that he also apparently signed up for the bowling club, they jump at the opportunity for him to try and get that trophy for the city!! As Todd attends practices at the local bowling alley, which is owned by Alex's Dad, of course things are off to a bumpy start since he is just completely full of himself, and the rest of the club is in full cringe mode😳😬 Eventually Alex, and Todd begin to work together and form a friendship which unfortunately makes the the others feel left out. After all, a sports movie isn't a sports movie without teamwork in the end right?

As I mentioned above, this was definitely my least favorite DCOM that I've revisited so far. It just didn't reel me in, and I think it was because besides Alex, and Todd, the characters are incredibly lackluster, and the direction/production value (even for it's time) looks super cheap.

I did appreciate the story though! I will admit Bowling is literally the only sport I enjoy participating in, (besides Mini-Golf😂), so I thought that the plot about the bowling alley losing business and them needing to come up with a way to make it more suitable for what the teens were into was a nice touch. If you think about it, most bowling alleys nowadays really are like a club...always packed, bumping music, light shows, and all🎳🙌🔊

Consensus: "Alley Cats Strike" is more of a split...one plot is better than the other, and the same thing can be said about the characters....Alex and Todd are by far the most interesting characters🤷‍♂️🎳

The Ray J's Review's Consensus is

3 out of 5 Bursts of DCOM Wand ID Magic

💚✨💚 & 1/2