This (Belgian) film is based on the Dutch film ALL STARS, about a bunch of lifelong friends, who have been playing soccer together since they were kids. Each of them has his story to tell and some of them have made more out of life than the others. I wished there had been more of a story to it, but it's all presented in a rather sketchy kind of way. Very often, director Jan Verheyen "uses" the characters to set up for a funny scene. In this way, the characters never seem to transcend the caricatures they are. The aim was definitely to make people laugh and they succeeded in doing that, but it also makes the few "emotional" scenes look rather unreal.(the flashback scenes of the players as young boys are for example totally useless) Sometimes you don't really know whether to laugh or cry at the scene. The acting however was very good(especially by the leads Axel Daeseleire and Tom van Landuyt, some of the best younger actors in Belgium)and the many cameos were funny too. But I guess you have to be Belgian to really appreciate all of it. The film is so typical Belgian(or should I say Flemish?)that I don't think it will appeal to many foreign viewers.(but perhaps that's not the purpose of the film) A thing I also found rather noticeable about the film was the sound-track, which is filled with different sorts of Belgian bands. It shows that Belgium too has all sorts of good music and that it's not a coincidence that these bands are frequently used for Hollywood(and other foreign) sound-tracks.
All in all, an often pleasing film, just don't look for a deeper sense in it. 6/10
