"Eddie"

Opens: May 31, 1996 | Rated: PG-13

Whoopi Goldberg carries this comedy about an average Jane limo driver who the eccentric owner of the New York Knicks hires to coach his team out of desperation and a thirst for publicity.

Originally written with a male lead, "Eddie" certainly would have been a mess without Goldberg to add an unexpected feminine view. It probably would have been a failure, too because she's the only thing drawing women to this sports picture.

Also, she's the only thing that gives dignity to the saccharine scenes of coach playing shrink to her team's emotional problems and police league kids basketball games. Without her, these trivial asides would play like an episode of "The Commish."

Of course the Knicks begin to win under her tutelage, of course the owner isn't what he appeared to be and she has to tell him off. But she's Whoopi, the woman that turned the cliche of the psychologist/bartender into Guynan on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," so you can image what she does with this.

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