Just weeks after Thea Sharrock's sweary comedy 'Wicked Little Letters' hit cinemas in Britain, another film of her's has come along.
'The Beautiful Game' is a Film 4 and Netflix backed comedy drama about the Homeless World Cup.
However instead of going into cinemas, it has headed straight for the streaming platform.
Counting Colin Farrell among its producers, the Dubliner first became involved in the Frank Cottrell-Boyce scripted movie after narrating the 2008 documentary 'Kicking It' by Susan Koch and Jeff Werner which was also acquired by Netflix.
He and his 'In Bruges' and 'The Banshees of Inisherin' co-star Brendan Gleeson were initially attached to the project when it was being developed at Fox Searchlight Pictures.
But as is always the case with films of this kind, potential leads come and go before the cameras start rolling.
The version hitting our TV screens and smart devices has Micheal Ward and Bill Nighy in the lead roles and as substitutes coming off the bench go, that's pretty decent combination.
Nighy plays Mal, a widower who has been taking teams of homeless men out to play for England in successive Homeless World Cups - an annual four a side mens tournament that has been running since 1999.
A women's competition was added to the tournament in 2008, with Graz, Glasgow, Stockholm, Cape Town, Gothenburg, Milan, Edinburgh, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Santiago, Poznan, Oslo, Mexico City, Amsterdam and Cardiff all hosting matches at various stages.
Previous winners include Austria, Italy, Russia, Scotland, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Brazil, Chile and Mexico in the men's event and Zambia, Brazil, Kenya, Mexico and Chile in the women's.
Under the rules of the Homeless World Cup, participants are not allowed to have appeared at any previous version of the tournament.
The four a side matches are 14 minutes long, with seven minute halves and the successful teams must qualify through the group stages to reach the knockout phases.
.jpeg)
In Sharrock's film, Mal has assembled a multicultural England team that includes Tom Vaughan-Lawlor's Irishman Kevin in goal, Callum Scott Howells' recovering Welsh heroin addict Nathan, Sheyi Cole's naive Jason, Kit Young's errant young father Cal and Robin Nazari's Afghan refugee Aldar.
However Mal clearly has his eye on Micheal Ward's Vinny too who he spots dribbling the ball around some kids in a park.
Believing Vinny can take the English team on to a whole new level in the forthcoming tournament in Rome, he sets about trying to persuade him to join the squad.
At first Vinny declines, denying he is homeless until it is revealed he is sleeping in his car.
He has an estranged family, with a young daughter Jesusline Baah-Williams' Evie living with her mum and his ex, Jesseye Romeo's Ellie.
Unable to commit to going to Evie's school assembly to see her deliver a presentation, he tells her he's going to Rome and subsequently signs up to Mal's Homeless World Cup team.
However the former football pro, who we learn was once on the books at West Ham, cuts a surly figure as the squad arrives in Italy.
Vinny looks down on his fellow teammates and is aghast when he discovers Nathan, who he is rooming with, is a heroin addict who has to take his methadone every day.
While Vinny moans about his teammates' lack of ability, Mal remains convinced the former Hammer will improve the English squad and get them through the knockout phases.
To win the Homeless World Cup, they will have to overcome the hosts Italy, the favourites South Africa led by Susan Wokoma's football mad nun Protasia or Team USA featuring Cristina Rodlo's talented immigrant Rosita.
Along the way, they also encounter a hapless Japanese squad led by Aoi Okuyama's coach Mika who is taking her first team to the tournament.
Mal endures some stick about England's prospects from an old friend and the tournament host, Valeria Golino's Gabriella.
Jason gets into trouble for a really gauche attempt to impress Rosita.
But can the team end 25 years of Homeless World Cup hurt?
As you would expect, we're very much in 'The Full Monty' territory here, with Sharrock serving up a light hearted comedy with a social conscience.
With Cottrell-Boyce also on board, you expect a bit more grit but it never really comes.
'The Beautiful Game' celebrates the power of football to unite and also elevate the lives of people who are living below the poverty line.
It raises a glass to the Homeless World Cup and rightly so.
However rather disappointingly, it often soft soaps the grim reality of homelessness.
We rarely see the harshness of the lives its characters lead offscreen and on those occasions where the film does go there, it still feels like Sharrock is afraid to go the whole hog in case it dampens the comic spirit.
~2.jpg)
As for the cast, they turn in amiable performances from Vaughan Lawlor to Scott Howells, Golino, Wokoma, Okuyama, Cole, Young, Rodlo and Nazari.
Fans of 'The Young Offenders' will enjoy Shane Casey's cameo as a referee who seems a little fond of waving around his yellow and red cards.
As for Ward, he does a pretty decent job as a disillusioned former professional, while Bill Nighy is Bill Nighy.
He never quite convinces as a football coach - he's more like a mild mannered accountant.
However he gets by on bucket loads of charm.
'The Beautiful Game' is undoubtedly watchable.
It's a nice tribute to a remarkable football tournament and gets away with turning it into an intergender competition.
However you can't help but feel that it should be more than just a salute to the Homeless World Cup.
By focusing mostly on gentle gags it actually waters down the subject it should be shining a light on.
There are no own goals but the final result makes Sharrock's movie feel like a frustrating goalless draw.
('The Beautiful Game' was made available for streaming on Netflix on March 29, 2024)
Comments
Post a Comment