The Match

Wullie Smith (Max Beesley) is a handicapped young man with a serious trauma: his brother Johnny died when they were young while climbing a mountain because of his fault. He works as a milkman in a tiny city in Scotland and has a crush on Rosemary Bailey (Laura Fraser). However, he is too shy to declare his love to her. Every night, Wullie meets his friends in a pub called `Bennys'. This place is the fruit of a bet made one hundred years ago, against another pub, `Le Bistro'. In that time, their owners firmed a stake: Bennys would never win Le Bistro in one hundred soccer games along one hundred years. The winner of the bet would take possession of both pubs. In the present, Bennys has lost the previous ninety-nine games, and needs desperately to win the last game. I bought this DVD maybe two years ago in a sale offer, and I have not paid attention to it until today. I have just seen it, and it is a delightful and exciting movie. The story is indeed a comedy, but has also drama and romance. The cast has a great performance and makes the viewer cheers in many situations. I am Brazilian, land of the soccer (The British invented this game, and we improved it), and five times world champion, and I love soccer. This movie has absurd, such as the couch, who is handicap, decides the game shooting a penalty in the end of the match, but who is caring to that? The important thing is `the good guys' win `the bad guys', and this is achieved. It is a very funny situation, because in Brazil, we soccer fans have a saying, which is: `Penalty is so important that the president of the club should be responsible for shooting it'. Therefore, for us Brazilians, it is very funny the foregoing mentioned situation. Pierce Brosnan has a surprisingly participation in the end of the story. This film is highly recommended for fans of soccer. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `A Aposta' (`The Bet')

I am reviewing this film as an ex pat actor from the UK watching it for the first time in Australia.

Initially I thought Max Beesley had a look of Ewan Mcgregar.

His performance is shows that he his equally talented. The selection of cast and music is a typically British gem. I personally love this style of raw talent. Putting Alan Shearer and Sam Fox into the cast is bizarre but work so well.

Pierce Brosnan you are a star. I love your acting and now I am a fan of your producing.

andy@andy-croft.com

Scottish milkman Wuille's life is in a bit of turmoil. His sweetheart has returned to the village and his local pub is at risk from being shut down as a result of a century old bet with another pub to win a football match. With his pub's group of thugs seemingly having no chance Wuille decides to move his life on by making his feelings clear to Shelia and coaching his team to victory.

With the success of The Full Monty, everyone wanted to make a British comedy that would cost little but hit big. The Match is one of those attempted clones but it doesn't quite work as well as it could do. The plot is promising but little of it carries through. The subplots and history behind the main characters isn't really followed – for example the loss of Wuille's brother or the relationship with Shelia, neither are fully explored.

The comedy is of the amusing but not hilarious type with some good characters but nothing to write home about. There are no jokes that really stand out and rather the film has a general air of being bemused rather than funny. It all makes for a watchable film that will quickly fade from your memory. The use of music makes it feel like every other Brit comedy of recent memory, the tunes of nice but it just sticking to the formula and shows no real evidence of invention.

The cast are OK but don't really stand out, they are all pretty average. Beesley is an average lead but love interest Blair does little but look pretty (although she does do it well!). Grant is camp and OTT but is good value. The cast of the two pubs are easily drawn comedy characters but none of the cameos really work. Sam Fox is nice to look at but does nothing, Shearer is simply pointless, Ian Holm is miscast but Brosnan is reasonable as he appears to be mocking his involvement a little!

It doesn't really work but the gentle air of predictable amusement is just enough to make this light enough to pass 90 minutes. Just don't expect anything more than that – there is a reason why this was not a global sleeper hit.

It's undeniable that this kind of plot was worked and reworked in many movies but "The Match" has a wonderful locale and a decent cast (also starring the American Tom Sizemore). The team of misfits subject is here handled focusing on quirky characters and on a romantic basis (Willie is still in love with his childhood friend Rosemary). This small-town comedy - with a little Pierce Brosnan cameo - dealing with the underdog theme and the football/soccer popularity, could somehow remind other working class stories but it's completely different from Ken Loach pictures because is less centered on social problems and more on a melhancoly atmosphere. However it works

THE MATCH is in the same category of "little UK films" as CALENDAR GIRLS, THE ENGLISHMAN WHO..., LOCAL HERO, etc. which depend on a likable and quirky set of characters to drive a plot that you KNOW will "all turn out right" from the first frame. As many have pointed out, there's not much you couldn't guess about the plot as it proceeds, but I enjoyed being along for the ride. Watching Bill Paterson, Ian Holm, Richard E. Grant and the others obviously enjoying their roles was a pleasure. The slightly odd Celtic soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams, plus the interesting choices of source music, added an extra layer of enjoyment. Just ignore the plot holes (would there really have been a bar called L'BISTRO in 1899?) and have yourself a jolly good evening of light fun.