Missi Pyle is an instantly recognizable and yet still oddly anonymous actress. Tall, broad-faced and characterized by an imperious visage, she’s marked her comedic presence in a wide variety of films — everything from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Stormbreaker to Dodgeball and the execrable American Crude. Interestingly, though much younger and less experienced, Emily Osment is almost as immediately recognizable. Yes, you see, she’s the sister of The Sixth Sense‘s Haley Joel, and she looks exactly like him. Soccer Mom is the movie that brings these two together, telling the story of a single working mother who poses as a famous athlete in an effort to try to boost her daughter’s spirit and save her soccer team.

Smart and hard-working, Becca Handler (Osment) is a good kid, but lacks a father figure. When her losing soccer team finds itself in need of a new coach, Becca’s mom Wendy (Pyle) decides to masquerade as the famous Italian soccer star Lorenzo Vincenzo (Dan Cortese) and take the job. Leaning on her hairdresser and make-up artist best friend for assistance, she comes up with a disguise, and throws herself into a mad charade to energize the girls. But can Wendy lead Becca’s team to the regional finals before her increasingly crazy double life comes totally unglued? Naturally, an appearance from the real Lorenzo figures into the finale of this airy, heartwarming all-ages flick, which skates by as an inoffensively charming slice of entertainment largely due to the fact that everyone involved is on the same unfussy page.

Soccer Mom is “just” a family film, yes, so its plot pivots aren’t all that groundbreaking. And neither does the movie’s obviously cramped production schedule allow for a lot of artistry in the telling. That said, while screenwriter Frederick Ayeroff’s script trades in all the obvious angles, it also works in a few winking tweaks of the conventions it’s honoring (“If we lose today you’ll still be my daughter, it’ll just be a little harder to love you,” says the sneering, overbearing mother of Becca’s competition). Some of the dialogue, too, is also charmingly specific in its zings, free of dull studio executive workshopping. (“He looks like Al Pacino. Or that Burger King guy,” says one of Becca’s friends when confronted with the curious, minute discrepancies in appearance between Lorenzo the pin-up star and Lorenzo in person.)

The film’s special effects make-up is handled by the Academy Award-winning team at Drac Studios, whose credits include Mrs. Doubtfire, White Chicks and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and if their efforts sometimes look a pinch garish, they for the most part effectively bridge the gap between Cortese and Pyle, aided by the latter’s somewhat masculine-leaning features. Also, for what it’s worth, popping up for weird cameos in the movie are Victoria Jackson, as Wendy’s sounding-board shrink, and terrible rapper-turned-self-peddling-mogul Master P, as well as Emily Osment’s dad, Eugene Osment.

Housed in a regular Amray case, Soccer Mom comes with a couple bonus featurettes. First off is an eight-minute-plus making-of featurette, which includes interviews with cast and crew. There’s also a six-and-a-half-minute featurette that delves into the make-up work required in the movie. Chief make-up artist Todd Tucker talks about his vision for the film, and we’re also treated to footage of Cortese and Pyle sporting gold body suits used to map a corresponding, mixed-mean physical vantage point that they could then each match in character, as Lorenzo. Time-lapse photography shows Pyle’s complete above-shoulders transformation, and there’s also footage of her working on physical mannerisms, and perfecting her Italian-tinged Borat impression. To purchase the movie via Amazon, click here. C+ (Movie) B- (Disc)