There's Only One Jimmy Grimble (2000)
Director: John Hay
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
It's hard being a small, shy, sensitive, lone Mancunian with unrealised dreams of footballing glory, and though Jimmy Grimble's mum (McKee) gives him her best, her penchant for dodgy boyfriends raises another obstacle between him and the world. Confidence doesn't come easy, but when it does, it seems to be in the form of an old pair of magic boots. What follows is unashamed wish-fulfilment - a Maine Road final beckons if Greenock High's unlikely lads can mount a run in the schools' championship - grounded, to a degree, by its breadth of human interest. Jimmy's are far from the only insecurities on show. Indeed, if anything the film's over-generous, with its range of characters and therapeutic wisdom. Winstone is improbably wholesome as the exiled ex of Jimmy's mum; Carlyle, on the other hand, gives a consummately restrained performance as sulky football coach Wirral; McKee is typically good value; and newcomer McKenzie is most watchable as Jimmy.Author: NB
Cast & crew
Director: John Hay
Producer: Sarah Radclyffe, Jeremy Bolt, Alison Jackson
Cast: Robert Carlyle, Ray Winstone, Gina McKee, Lewis McKenzie, Jane Lapotaire, Ben Miller, Wayne Galtrey, Ciaran Griffiths, Bobby Power full cast
Duration: 106 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now