Dir. Simon Shore, 2004, UK, 102 mins
Cast: Dougray Scott, Shaun Parkes, Emilia Fox
Review by Carol Allen
This is a potentially apposite little movie about being young adults today, which I wanted to like more than I actually did. The story concerns a group of blokes, who have been playing football together ever since the now ailing dad of one of them, Johnny (Danny Nussbaum), formed them into a boys’ football team twenty years earlier. Cass (Scott) is living with the love of his life, Kate (Fox), who's just announced she's pregnant and he's getting cold feet about being a father. Adam (Parkes) has a big secret, which he dare not tell his
mates. Colin (Bruce MacKinnon) dreams of having a threesome with his new girlfriend (Billie Piper) and her best mate, and Dylan (Jimi Mistry) is fed up with sharing his home with slobby Colin and thinks he may have
found his ideal woman. Meanwhile, Danny cannot accept the fact that his dad is dying.
There's some good young acting talent on show, though bearing in mind they're all supposed to be on the cusp of thirty, some of them do appear a bit older than that. For example, good though it is to see Dougray Scott playing something lighter for a change, he does seem a bit on the mature side to be playing such an immature character as he does here. And I was unconvinced that the lovely Billie Piper would be attracted to Bruce MacKinnon, who lacks both charm and good looks and has an irritating tendency to mug. Mistry is appealing as the serious, music loving Dylan and Shaun Parkes is a young actor to watch. He gave a very good performance on stage recently in Elmina's Kitchen. I had, though, guessed his big secret in reel one. It's also a fun idea to have a film with football at its centre, where we never see the team actually play.
It is, however, one of those little British movies which would look more comfortable on the television screen. Though it starts well, introducing its characters and getting us to empathise with them, halfway through, the script falls apart and loses its way. It's not perceptive enough for a drama, not funny or fizzy enough for a light comedy and there's some pretty ropy dialogue in places. However, it does get back on track for the funeral of Johnny's dad, where Danny Nussbaum is really moving. It's also very much the boys' movie. Of the girls, only Fox gets much of a look-in, and she's pushed by the script into being a bit of a shrew.
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