The Rise & Fall of a White Collar Hooligan

This is definately a crime movie, far away from hooliganism as we know it, its about scams,leaking your and mine accounts, snitching,high flying lifestyle, a little bit of beating, a narrow story told by the main carachter, its main stream english ganglionism, made a bit more eatable for the layman,and for sure will dissapoint the squemish high violent brittish gangster movie fan. lots of bad language there is but thats also the most offensive in this flick. its like a hard boiled fist fighting,can throwing hooligan...... toothless.

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.

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

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.

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!