The Hooligan Factory

I really liked this film, so much its become of of about 4 films this year that I have seen more than once. Sadly I missed it on the big screen due to a lack of screens but the film works better on DVD (and BR). Why? Well the 60 minute making of is near as funny as the film itself. Brilliantly put together. Whilst thinking about The Hooligan Factory this morning I realised that on the second viewing, I spotted so many more 'in jokes' that I missed the first time around. Kinda like 'Airplane' The filmmakers could easily have gone 100% spoof with this film but they have stuck a solid storyline in there. Nothing too complicated. Just enough to take the film from a sketch film to a proper film. I could go into some of the best jokes in the film but you'll find them out for yourself. Easily one of the highlights this year. Very very funny, it takes fun at other films but also in no way takes itself too seriously. If you watch one film this year, Watch The Hooligan Factory....If you watch 2 films this year. Then watch The hooligan Factory again.

I'm not a fan of soccer/football but I know the insane nature of some of the "fans" and their proclivity to violence. But I also had the advantage of not knowing this was supposed to be a parody of the more serious hooligan genre that was popular at the time as I didn't watch any of those serious takes on the subject. For me it was just an absurdist take on the nature of such sporting fanatics who really are just there to fight and enjoy more the sport of beating each other senseless. So maybe I enjoyed it because I wasn't comparing it to anything. The characters were cartoonish and there was plenty of funny bits to keep me watching. The pacing was good and the production quality was admirable for such low-brow base humor. Performances were good as the characters really held up in my mind. You absolutely had to have gone it hating this movie to end up hating it in the end. It's silly, it's brutal, but it's just entertainment and I was entertained.

on Monday the 9th June I watched the screening and live Prem of the Hooligan factory I must say the first 5minutes caught my eye and the whole way through the film as well its a top British spoof about football Hooligans it really is. pure class comedy from start to finish with some cheese added few out the film and every one likes a bit of cheese I suggest all those who love rise of the foot soldier , the firm , and football factory to go see this or buy a copy top notch stuff enjoyed it an giggled all the way start to end .well done to the director writers and all the cast and crew . one hell of a film there needs to be more films made like this, where a lot of time effort and hard work has been put into it

The poster should be an indicator! While this is dealing with real life events, it does make fun of them (and the people involved). If you didn't get the message then, you might get it with the movies intro. A very well known British actor has a cameo (actually you get more than one and you could ask, how they got involved in this, but it seems to have been one day of shooting and a lots of fun) were he's making fun of his image and how people perceive him.

Still not sure? The movie is filled with weird and strange humor. Not everything is a hit, but there's enough here to enjoy if you let yourself. Plus it does have violence thrown in there for good measure (in other words, does not shy away from it). It might have a very strange moment towards the end, that does break the comedy a bit, when it gets serious, but the movie almost even pulls that off. Decent enough, especially if you think there have been enough movies about Hooligans already ...

I have criticised the American film industry for having a lack of imagination . Reboots , franchises . car chases , explosions and CGI . To be fair this type of movie sells and never kill a golden goose . The British film industry deserves some criticism too along the same lines . Guy Ritchie comes along and all of a sudden every British release features mockney gangsters calling each other "Slag" and a few other naughty words . An off shoot of this was the football hooligan film where instead of gangster running around with shooters we had variably dressed blokes who follow West Ham FC ( They're always ICF West Ham fans ) running around with Stanley knives . If you've seen one you've probably seen them all . That said I did think RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER was a gritty hard hitting thriller that mixed the Brit gangster thriller and hooligan film very well

THE HOOLIGAN FACTORY starts with a direct referential spoof of the climax of that film and is genuinely funny , along with having a couple of cameos of the usual suspects who appear in these type of movies . This is to be honest the highlight of the movie because I was expecting a few more of the mockney celebrity cadre to appear throughout the movie . This unfortunately doesn't happen but for what we get , an affectionate low brow lampooning of hooligan and gangster films it works relatively well . There might be a previous knowledge of other films required from the audience in order to get the jokes but let's face it guys if you've seen a British film over the last 15 years it will be one involving either gangsters or the ICF