The Rise & Fall of a White Collar Hooligan

The "Geezer" film has become a staple of the British Film Industry in the last 15 years or so, popularized by the likes of Guy Ritchgie and then carried on in films dealing with either football hooliganism, violent crime, or both.

"The Rise & Fall Of A White Collar Hooligan" doesn't offer us much new, to be honest, but does it's job as well as can be expected. We get your typical footie loving hooligan Mike, played very well by Nick Nevern, who can't get a job in these disparate times etc etc. He's fixed up by fellow footie battler Eddie (an excellent turn from Simom "Jack Falls" Phillips) who introduces him to the world of organized credit card fraud. From here on, we follow his crime career with plenty of swearing and some, but not too much, violence.

It's a good film that builds its characters well, using two of the better up and coming Geezer actors of recent years. the old school is represented by Billy Murray, playing his usual type, but the main focus is on the two leads, who carry the film with style. Oddly, the football element does not sit with the rest of the film, and as it doesn't advance either plot or character could be erased without any detrimental effect to the film as a whole. So, not up there with "Rise Of The Foot Soldier", but worth your time if that's your idea of a good night in.... geezer!

I couldn't resist this as I watch most of the 'geezer' movies that come out. Firstly the title is very confusing. The main character isn't white collar, and his hooligan activities are limited to a short montage in the opening 5 minutes. What it's really about is an unemployed thug joining a credit card cloning racket and rising through the ranks before the inevitable crash. The story more or less follows the trajectory of 'Goodfellas' but obviously no where near as slick of well written. Some of the dialogue is straight out of the 'Football Factory' book and gets far to close to the embarrassment of Danny Dyer's forced tones. The music is also woeful and inappropriate. That said, the credit card scam sections are quite entertaining in a limited beer & curry night kind of way. In closing, I don't know what you would expect from a film entitled 'Fall and Rise of a White Collar Hooligan' but what you get is a flawed low budget crime drama with some limited interesting parts. 5/10

Watched this one on a whim simply because it was lying around close to me on a boring day... did i expect it to be decent?...maybe. Did i expect it to be as good as i thought (8 out of 10) NO! This was a pleasant surprise for me - its not solely football based...in fact its not football hooligan based at all bar a couple scenes. Its more about credit card fraud done by a group of guys who also like the odd bit of football hooliganism. It made a change after seeing so many football based films like Firm, Football Factory, Green Street etc. The credit card fraud storyline works... its a thought out scam that you can imagine working and the storyline kept me watching without wanting to turn off. I see this has a lot of general negative reviews on here and i really don't think it deserves it. A solid 7 for me.

So I'm fresh of watching Green Street 3 and I wanted a film of the same feel so I watched this expecting exciting fights and brutal violence... but friggin NOOO!! This is super boring and barely has any action. It's mostly just dealing with mafia issues and super long boring talks either held in a cell or restaurant!! But yeah there's also sequels to this so ya know I gotta see if this series gets better!!

Fair play to Paul Tanter and a little from Simon Phillips. Film doesn't go anywhere that will entertain you. There's only so little you can do to tell stories about hooliganism and football fans.

Budget must have been a thousand quid and that Includes all the wages If you choose to watch it don't say I didn't warn you. Worst acting I have ever seen beyond teletubbies.