Il campione

It's a great film for entertaining, this thinking comes to mind in the first 20 mins, and then the story evolves to a lonely boy inside the gifted but rebellious football star. you can't use one sentence to tell how the main role is, what personality he is. I love to see a "Character", here has two. Andrea Carpenzano is really Charming charming charming! A boyfriend material.

It is not the best movie out there, but neither the worst. Characters are well written albeit being a little bit stereotyped: the troubled and extremely talented kid with a rather difficult past, the teacher who suffered the loss of a beloved one who is now apatic and borderline alcoholic, the next door girl the protagonist falls in love with etc.

Despite the not exceptional characterization the story unfolds pretty well and gives a more in depth look at what all of them had to go through during their lives and makes the spectator sympathize and cheer for them throughout the movie, which might sound like a very cheap thing but, and you have to trust me on this, it's not.

The scenes shot around "Trigoria" (ASR Roma training facility) and at the "Stadio Olimpico" (ASR Roma home stadium) are also well made and adds a thin but very important atmosphere which is always a good thing in these kinds of movies.

Overall a solid movie worth watching if you love football movies, do not expect a masterpiece but if you're looking for something that has both football and a little bit of drama (not really actually) then that's the movie for you.

Watching it right now on RAI1 and I'm happily surprised. Yeah, the story is an amalgam of Hollywoodized basic ideas, like a reversal of Good Will Hunting with a touch of The Blind Spot. But still, this is as Italian as it gets.

Much as I was confused about the opening scenes and the basic logic of who is bearing with the spoiled star for what reason (there was more than a stretch there IMO) I liked the acceleration of mandatory introductions.

At one point, things began to fold out just too quickly, which is no problem in case they don't run out of material before getting to the end.

Predictability is the major issue with such productions. Well-shot, has the glitter, yet, we know what is going to happen at what phase.

Nothing really interesting here ... you can empathise with the main carachter only if you live the delusion of living a very stupid life.

The movie itself is no different from many of the same kind: The smart rebel who's got almost everything but is an underdog in school and needs help basically growing up. The comparison with the older "Scialla" is almost immediate.

The perk of the movie stands in the football related background and in the Accorsi's character resulting a nice entertainment for a boring Sunday afternoon of a soccer-free summer.