Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageMike Bassett England Manager (2001)
Director: Steve Barron
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
To the modern game of English football, Mike Bassett ought to be an irrelevance, a lower league journeyman player turned lower league journeyman manager currently working fairly minor miracles at Norwich. So when Lancaster Gate's wise guys prevail upon Bassett to salvage the England team's fortunes - well, could you suspend disbelief? This mock doc sets up its hero as part Graham Taylor, part Private Eye's Ron Knee, but for your average young Michael Owen fan it must look like a vérité-style Walking with Dinosaurs. This isn't really a football movie. Sure, it follows Bassett and his squad through thick and thicker, scraping into the Brazil World Cup Finals despite themselves. This one's about English self-image, going out to that inferiority complex that cherishes gallant failure. The film rollicks in the spirit of bulldogs and turnips, Dunkirk and Arthur Daley, while whizzing through the rare England victory with barely a glimpse of actual play. Perhaps fittingly, the film itself embodies this notion of the second-rate. In the spirit of Kevin Keegan, the film-making is enthused, artless and all over the park.Author: NB
Cast & crew
Director: Steve Barron
Producer: Neil Peplow, Steve Barron
Cast: Ricky Tomlinson, Amanda Redman, Philip Jackson, Bradley Walsh, Phill Jupitus, Ulrich Thomsen, Pele, Terry Kiely, Dean Holness full cast
Duration: 89 mins
Top Stories
Ridley Scott interview
Director Ridley Scott tells Cath Clarke why he's making a science fiction comeback
Cannes Film Festival 2012: half-time report
Dave Calhoun reports on the hits, misses and a shocking new masterpiece from Michael Haneke
What do you think?
Post your review now