Mike Bassett: England Manager

When the stress of the job gives the manager of England's national football team a stroke, the call goes out to Europe to find a quality manager to take over. When that call goes unanswered the FA are forced to look within the English game and, having been turned down by everyone else, employ Division 1 manager Mike Bassett who has just won the cup with Norwich. With three games left and one win needed to get into the World Cup finals, can Mike's strategy of the standard 4-4-2, aggressive old-school captain and rubbish penalty takers see the team through the qualification stages? This film was pretty well timed when it was released because, with Sven in charge it looked like the days of uninspiring old-school English football managers who shout and swear were long over and so it was easier to laugh at the "old days" being sent up by this film. Of course watching it now, jokes about England underachieving are perhaps not that funny (although as a Northern Ireland supporter I can always find a chuckle when it comes to English misfortune). However, if you are a follower of football in England then this film will be enjoyable even if it is pretty basic and lines up loads of easy targets from the start. The actual "plot" is not that good and the cracks do begin to show in the final third when it goes from a series of jokes to try and become an actual narrative but, aside from these problems it surprised me by how entertaining it was. Of course I wasn't roaring with laughter but it sent up plenty of easy targets and had enough going for it to keep me consistently amused and interested and, as with all sports movies, the "must win" game with pumping music is always an easy thing to pull out of the bag.

The cast are fairly obvious and it is no wonder that none of them were mentioned when the awards ceremonies came around. Tomlinson is a convincing old-style manager who sends up Graham Taylor in particular with his comparison to vegetables and his swearing rants. He brings out some compassion from the character although I felt that the subplot with his family suffering abuse was poorly handled and seemed out of place. Support is good with the targets all covered, from the old men of the FA to the bloodlust journalists and fighting English thugs. None of them really do anything special but Walsh, Jackson, Jupitus and others are supported well with cameos from Pele, Basir and a few others.

Overall this isn't a particularly clever film but it has plenty of easy targets to aim at and it does manage to hit most of them. It isn't hilarious but I found it consistently amusing throughout, although it did weaken a bit towards the end. Outside of football fans and those with a knowledge of England I can't imagine this film going down too well but if you are in both of those camps then it is likely that you'll enjoy this even if it is fairly basic stuff.

This film is almost a remake of the documentary about England's Manager Graham Talyor made during the qualification for the 1994 world cup. It follows a below par manager from the lower leagues who has to take on the England job when no-one else wants it. There are loads of hilarious scenes and those who know football will recognize plenty of characters based on real people in the football world. There are several good performances but Ricky Tomlinson steals the show as Mike Bassett, the part in the film when he loses his temper at half time is hilarious made even funnier as all the bad language is bleeped out and believe me the bleeping is the only thing you hear. Top draw film, one every football fan MUST SEE!!!!!!!!!!

The thing about this film is that although it is obviously an exaggeration of the English soccer scene, it comes perilously close to the truth. It is certainly true that thanks to a ruthless gutter press, the England manager's job is a poisoned chalice, and no one wants it. One can remember how Kevin Keegan was practically forced into the job, a job for which he was ill-suited; and, in fairness to Mr Keegan, he knew it and resigned quite quickly. In this film, in need of an England manager, the Football Association offer the job to a second rater, brilliantly played by Ricky Tomlinson.

The film is full of little exaggerations. There is a quick shot of the back of the English goalkeeper, with an enormous pony tail. And my favourite scene is where the England squad meets the Republic of Ireland team comprising of English players sporting their new Irish accents. And of course the classic scene: Mike Bassett's half-time talk.

This film is brilliantly done. Certainly the best soccer film I have seen.

took the girlfriend to see this one and apart from the few sight gags she didnt really get any of the jokes. However if you are a fan of the beautiful game this will tickle you immensely. There are loads of football in-jokes such as the 'gazza', Stuart Pearce/Vinnie Jones and Ian Wright characters. Very much in the Peter Kay style of understated spoofs

3/10 if you're not into football 9/10 if you are

Mike Bassett:England Manager is a mock documentary about a new England Manager and the trials and tribulations he goes through during qualification and subsiquant world cup in Brazil. There are loads and loads of funny moments in this film and i promise you even if you are not a football fan you will like this a lot. Basically we see Ricky Tomlinson brilliantly playing the new England snatched from the first division as manager of Norwich City into the spotlight.We see all the things that really happen to England managers but exagerated ten fold with very funny consiquences such as the moment he wrote his first England team down on a fag packet and gave it to his P.A to type out for the press , 10 minutes later there were two new players added to the squad.......Benson & Hedges!!. One uncanny thing that does come out of the film is the results in the world cup, England beat Argentina 1-0 and go out of the tournement to Brazil ., exactly what happens a year after the film is made in the real world cup in Japan! 8 out of 10.