If you were breezing through the new releases for this week on a few of the UK on-line retailers, you might just stumble across a film called Balls (actual title Männer wie wir, which translates as 'Men Like Us'), the one being reviewed here, and a good many of you will hop straight past it because more than one of these companies have chosen to label the film 'gay interest'. In terms of its subject matter it would certainly qualify for the queer cinema label, but a film as energetic, cheerily upbeat and well made as this one does not deserve to be so narrowly pigeonholed (the same is true for a great deal of queer cinema, of course). It seems daft that a formulaic but entertaining story of underdogs winning against the odds that would normally be seen as mainstream fare is in danger of being consigned to a specialist audience simply because the main characters are gay. Mind you, I'm not completely naïve here – I do realise that a large portion of the mainstream audience still carry enough prejudice around to run a mile on spikes rather than watch a movie featuring even one gay character, let alone eleven. Which is a shame, as it's that still widely held prejudice that this film so effectively highlights and challenges, and would make it ideal viewing for more mainstream-orientated viewers, delivering as it does a worthwhile message in an audience-friendly wrapping.

In terms of plot, there is nothing, and I do mean nothing, about Balls that will surprise you. If you've been watching films for a few years then you'll have seen all this a hundred times. The formula goes like this – the lead character is humiliated and challenged to a task everyone believes him incapable of, but he goes off in search of those who will aid him in his quest and returns to do battle, at which he will inevitably triumph. It's Joseph Campbell's A Hero's Journey again, the inspiration for just about every mainstream movie from Hollywood and beyond since George Lucas swallowed the book whole and spat it out as Star Wars back in 1977.

In this case our hero is Ecki, young, good-looking goalkeeper with a local team whose lack of progress with his girlfriend turns out to be down to his own unrealised preferences for young males. The discovery of his true sexuality is made suddenly and embarrassingly public, and Ecki is dropped from the team in an instant. In the argument that follows he is challenged to put together a gay team to play against his old team mates – in the heat of the moment he accepts, but in this rigidly heterosexual sport, where is he to find such players?

There can be few of you who could not write the rest yourself, and to be honest if you've already made a guess how it all ends you're very probably right. The plot holds no surprises here, but the exuberant handling by American ex-pat Sherry Horman is surprisingly and instantly seductive, the opening credits briskly setting the scene and the style of those to follow, with busy camerawork and snappy editing underscored by breezy rock track, the action laced with engaging character detail and amusing comic asides.

But if the film is weakened by its adherence to generic cliché, it also unexpectedly draws strength from it. A formula that is traditionally used for the (re-) establishment of masculinity by allowing the hero to find an inner strength, defeat the enemy and marry the princess here becomes a route to the establishment of gay pride and acceptance by friends and family. Thus a comic take on the Seven Samurai recruitment of warriors for the cause is not only frequently funny, but gently deflates the widely held (but statistically unlikely) belief that football is a purely heterosexual game, and a locker-room talk to prompt Ecki out for the final match sweetly reveals the level of his mother's non-judgemental devotion to her son. Inevitably the gay stereotypes are there, but are never overplayed and are counterbalanced nicely by players cool enough to adorn any young fan's bedroom wall and the trio of bikers whose tenderness and affection for each other sits very comfortably behind their hard-ass street image. A particularly amusing aside has David Beckham, an international sporting icon and one of the game's most admired and recognised figures, singled out as both an inspiration for the players and a highly desirable gay icon.

It's a mistake to stick a film like Balls into a box marked 'for gay interest only', especially as its message of tolerance and understanding is targeted very specifically at the audience most likely to react to that misjudgment. Yes it's very formulaic, but it's also funny, energetic and genuinely worth your while – just put those silly prejudices aside for 90 minutes and you may just have a damned good time.

If you caught the first post of this review you'll know that the preview disc we were working from gave no clear indication of the picture or sound quality. Well it's good news, as both are pretty damned fine. The anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer is sharp and with pleasing contrast and colour, although many scenes appear to have a slight yellow cast to them. In these postmodernist days, it's hard to tell if this was intended or not.

The 5.1 soundtrack is a very lively one, with good seperation, a fine dynamic range and some very beefy LFE bass, notably in the night club scene in which Ecki wonders whether he might be gay after all after narrowly escaping a fisting. There is a slight treble bias evident in some scenes, which adds a slight hiss to the letter S.

The only one of real note is the Making-Of Featurette (14:35), an entertaining and informative collection of behind-the-scenes footage, some of which is set to the English language tunes used in the film. A nice mixture of crew and cast antics and revelations on how shots and scenes were filmed.

There are also Trailers for The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, Transylvania and 4:30.

Balls (released as Men and Balls in the US) may have few narrative surprises, but in the detail and positive messages about gender choice it's a real star, and also happens to be great fun to watch. Peccadillo's DVD scores on picture and sound and includes a very worthwhile 'making-of' featurette. Please, don't let the 'Gay Interest' label put you off – this is a very enjoyable and positive movie that deserves to find a wider audince than it is in danger of doing. See it, enjoy it and tell your friends.