Best

As a Manchester United FC fan, I eagerly awaited the release of this picture. What a disappointment! It focuses on George Best's addictions to gambling, womanising and alcohol with a lets-get-out-the-violins perspective. The errors in the plot were glaring, for example, John Lynch (Best) is not the petite build his character was. The only actor to come out with credit was Linus Roache as Denis Law. But the director's habit of missing out years between scenes left me confused as to where it was up to. I should have liked this movie (I was in the crowd at Old Trafford when they shot one of the scenes) but I didn't - I was glad when the credits rolled.

As George Best has said, it is always difficult translating a sportsman's life to film, and this is no exception. In fact, the viewer needs to know the story of Best first to be able to follow the quick changes in character. We see George Best arriving in Manchester as a naive kid, experiencing a rapid rise to stardom, and just as swift a decline into alcoholic stupor, but without any idea of why. John Lynch co-wrote the script but seems all wrong for the charismatic Best. He remains sombre throughout, even when the team are on top. Ian Bannen gives a solid reading, in one of his last roles, as team manager Matt Busby, but again, the part is unlightening about his relationship with George. Of the supporting cast, I can only single out Linus Roache who is remarkably like the real Best teammate Denis Law, in speech and mannerisms.

The picture does have a lot of digitally retouched football footage, adding the actors into the action, but it is often shown from odd angles that lessen the impact. Why didn't they just use the actual players for these sequences ?

So, this joins the list of disappointing sporting lifes. Better to watch a documentary about the man instead to see the real magic.

its very hard i imagine to make a movie about a real life legend, the most important thing is to get the casting right of the subject the movie is about, thats the problem with this movie, from the first moment you see john lynch it hits you, the guy is a good actor and you cant blame him for taking the part, but he does not look anything like george best, if it was the pete townshend story he would have looked perfect, apart from being a genius footballer player george best had an incredible face, its so hard to watch this movie without thinking the whole time how unconvincing he is not because of any bad acting but just he is so badly cast, he looks like a forty year old man in a wig trying to look like a guy in his early twenties, one day someone will make a better movie about the life of george best, but you can be sure they will cast someone in their early twenties who is as near to or equally as good looking as best himself , only then will it be convincing and believable..

You have to be thankful for small favours, so I am thankful for having seen the original version of this movie, 'cos I'm sure an Italian dubbing would have accomplished the hard feat of making this movie worse. First, the lack of continuity is so big it jumps (and dances) in front of you: how come Best's accent is so strong at the beginning and almost gone near the end? how come he arrives in Manchester has a teenager and three years later looks fortyish? This movie lacks rhythm, it doesn't have a story and doesn't go anywhere. This movie lacks insight: we are told the life of a man who was good at football and who one day starts drinking, gambling and womanizing out of the blue. We await for an explanation of any kind, but to no avail. However, Best is portrayed as a "poor victim": a victim of what? Of the fact that someone gave him big money to run around a ball? Please!!! This movie lacks acting, so badly it hurts: only Ian Bannen delivers, but he has to put with lines from an alternative version of the "Symposium" that make him sound like a cheesy Socrates (the philosopher, not the footballer). A particular shame in this department must be bestowed upon females. I would not dare saying "female characters": Sophie Dahl is better than Patsy Kensit (go figure!); the latter would have found it easy to play this role, since she's been married to a lame imitator of Best's excesses (a Gallagher, in case you didn't know), but she can't even draw from personal experience. This movie lacks football, and it lacks it a great deal: if I knew nothing about this sport I would find the "coreographed scenes" ridiculous. Also, why re-enact famous matches only to film them with a 1960's-telly effect?

For this, and many more reasons, this movie lacks directing. It looks as if it's been directed by a large group of people who don't speak to each other, and it feels like a long bad tv commercial (what about that Irish choir?). Oh, and about the music, I haven't seen a single British movie that didn't feature "Come up and see me" by Steve Harley/Cockney Rebel: can some charity up there ship some new music to British Filmmakers? I don't want to go on forever, but the re-enacted scenes are another shame of this movie: you get actors filmed with a lousy filter and then pasted over an 80s (or 70s or 60s) background: it doesn't make sense, and it totally sucks. Like this whole movie.

Dissapointing telling of Georges life. It is just montages of him being drunk interwoven with his skills on the footy field. No character is really explored, we see Bobby Charlton recounting the Munich disaster, but that is as far as any characterisation goes. Decent performances, especially Lynch as when he plays the older George Best. The film is not Man United, more like Luton Town Reserves. Shame because it could of been so much more.