The Rise & Fall of a White Collar Hooligan

Having read the negative reviews on here I decided to have a punt on the film anyway as it was on Netflix and I was just vegging out. After watching the film I had to fire up my Macbook and write a review myself as I feel the negatives on here are a little too harsh on this film.

Lets get something straight from the off, Rise & Fall of A White Collar Hooligan (RFWCH) is not in the same league as Snatch, Lock Stock, The Football Factory or Dead Man's Shoes for example, However Millwall are not in the same league as Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal but that has never stopped me from watching and supporting them, and I have seen some absolutely fantastic Millwall matches over the years.

RFWCH has been criticised on here for its dialogue, which some have referred to as clichéd, but having grown up in Bermondsey and The surrounding areas of South London I can assure you that a lot of men from there and other parts of London speak exactly as depicted in this film, when they are around other men. Would they sit at Sunday Dinner and Ask "F***ing Lovely Roast Mum, Now could you pass me the salt please you F***ing C***" of course they wouldn't. And neither do the characters in this film. The language used is in the context of the conversation they are having and the person they are conversing with.

Personally I found the film to be an easy watch, containing characters that you cared enough about to want to know how it turned out for them. The acting was good, the script was clichéd but good enough (much better than the rubbish the writers on Eastenders have been turning out and getting paid for recently) and the plot was your average Gangster fare with a believable scam rife with the problems that crime must ultimately bring.

Billy Murray was Billy Murray, Ricci Harnett made a decent transition from head stomping Carlton Leach in rise of the foot soldier to a Detective, and relative newcomer Nick Nevern did a pretty good job in the Main role. Rita Ramnani did a fair job of Playing Nick Nevern's girlfriend and Simon Phillips played Eddie Hill relatively well. The biggest let down of the Cast for me was Roland Manookian. People regularly criticise Danny Dyer for being a one trick pony yet for me Roland Manookian simply plays Zebedee in most of the films he's in (there are one or two exceptions).

So to summarise; Its not the greatest film you're ever going to see but if you have an hour and fifteen minutes to kill and you like British Geezer films you wont be disappointed with this film. Believe me I have seen a lot worse than this!

Wes Fazzani

Since i have slagged off Press on Features considerably in my previous reviews, i feel i should make it clear for clarity's sake that not all of their output has been drab and vanilla waste as i've hinted at previously. Look no further than at what i guess what you could call their most iconic release, a Poundland staple, Rise and Fall of a White Collar Hooligan.

Released at a time when both the gangland and Hooligan genres were in decline, this film combined the two, cleverly, admittedly, as a way to pick up the scraps of niche interest left over from the early 2000's. The result was an exploitation (and not the last one) of a true life account of a credit card fraudster with an "oh so indeed" frustratingly misleading title slapped on and the new wave of low budget Brit crime cinema crashed into our supermarkets. The Hooligangster film had arrived and has not left since.

So, enough history, how's the film itself? Not bad. The quintessential low budget DV-era crime film. It has a clear idea of what it is and rarely bandies about with bringing the goods, all budgetary restrictions considered. Nick Nevern serves well as the small fish, big pond hood and is additionally served well by a good supporting turn by Simon Phillips and a well-balanced script that never struggles for politicisation and instead settles with sympathy for our protagonists.

The clue is in the title. They are just atypical white collar guys, like the intended audience, who happen to embark on this underworld odyssey. There is really not a bad turn in this by anyone in this really. Unadventurous or safe yes, but never disastrous or insipid. It's a story that keeps your interest despite lacking the bombast of the more notable entries it apes consistently throughout the running time.

Is it the best of it's kind? Maybe. Taking into consideration that it spawned a trilogy of steady quality, it's hard to argue anything of it's kind matches it in success. But with the increasingly ambitious (and enjoyable) works of the likes of Nicholas Winter and Terry Lee Coker upcoming, it might be only a matter of time before a new style establishes itself and closes over this fine ride of austerity era gangster fantasy.

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.

I love hooligan films, Green Street Hooligans (2005), The Football Factory (2004), The Firm (2009), even Rise of the Footsoldier (2007) and Cass (2008).

But this film is just bad. It uses hooliganism as a crutch for a bad plot. Nothing of interest happens in the movie. Like a previous reviewer said, it's a sub par gangster movie, lacking creativity and realism.

The only reason it relates to hooliganism is that the two main characters meet at a football match. I would not recommend this movie to anyone.