Watching movies is like jumping into a world of fantasy for just a few hours. It’s a place you wish you could be, and they can pull you out of reality, even if it’s for a short amount of time. A genre of movies that do a great job at letting you feel what the characters are feeling is romance, including romcoms. Sidelined: The QB and Me is a movie that has recently arrived on Tubi, starring actor and TikTok star Noah Beck and the love interest Siena Agudong.
Beck plays the character Drayton Lahey who is your basic football jock but also has a more complex background than meets the eye. He holds secrets and struggles with certain things throughout the movie. The movie also revolves around the life of Dallas Bryon, played by Agudong. She has a deep passion for dance, which presents many risks as she gets through her senior year of high school. Drayton and Dallas are on the brink of being in the real world, which makes a complicated love situation even more difficult.
The movie’s plot does a great job of showing what love can look like. It shows the arguments but also the good moments that come with relationships. Although the movie comes off as cheesy, the message appears deeper. It represents the idea of how special it is to be loved so truly and how love wins in any complicated situation. It is a privilege to be loved even through the good and bad, and the characters Drayton and Dallas exemplify this beautifully.
The movie came to life originally from the book Sidelined: The QB and Me by author Tay Marley. This actually came from the popular app Wattpad, where many underground writers are trying to show the world their writing and what they can do. The goal of this entire film is to show that opposites attract and also the intense consequences that can come from unrequited love, even when it is so deeply desired. It also has the theme of the feelings that arise from trying to balance everyday life with big dreams to pursue.
This movie is truly an out-of-body experience. It gives the audience a chance to step into the characters and live through their obstacles with them. The movie title also serves as a message throughout the movie—Sidelined. As the story progresses, Dallas is presented with multiple issues in her dancing, and she feels as though she is not enough. Sidelined has a meaning of unimportance, and this theme is brought into Dallas’s storyline immensely. Another theme in the film is misjudgment. Dallas takes Drayton for a basic high school jock that doesn’t really care about anything other than football, but the truth is much more meaningful than that. The movie teaches the audience not to judge a book by its cover, and that love is always in the air.
The movie ties deeper meanings into a simpler movie overall. The mix of romance and comedy makes watching this an emotional roller coaster. Some might say the movie is “cringe” or “like every other movie,” but just because there may be some scenes containing those subjects does not mean it makes for a bad movie. A basic film with a simple plot is sometimes for the best, especially when it holds a truer meaning.
