Damned United

J: “A soccer movie? Are you kidding me?” Yes, a film about soccer (well, football movie to be perfectly correct) & yes, we quite enjoyed it. “Damned United” came up on my entertainment radar several weeks ago. I have always been intrigued by soccer – after all, its hockey without the skates & I can relate to that. But when we realized Michael Sheen was playing the lead, well, Team Michael had to represent!

Damned United concerns one of the great football managers (English-to-American dictionary translation: soccer coach) in England & apparently a native hero of sorts. However, he had one serious downfall, one I can completely understand; he couldn’t keep his mouth shut! Brian Clough (played brilliantly, as one would expect, by Michael Sheen), by all accounts, was a serious & passionate man, who took the sport of soccer seriously. But that lead him to take slights from other managers & dirty play (from one team in particular - Leeds United) personally. He made vendettas for these transgressions a matter of conscious & damned the consequences. And those consequences & the team most often guilty of them – Leeds United - comprise much of the drama in this film. I felt it important to do a little background research before writing this review & one account related a story about Michael Sheen’s consideration for this part. It said, basically, that he launched into a perfect imitation of Brian Clough when asked what he felt about playing the part. He also gets to show off his football prowess & instill some of his own passion for the sport into the part.

If there’s one thing everyone can seem to agree on it’s this movie is either completely accurate or completely bogus. In other words, there is no middle ground. Some of those involved say the book upon which the movie is based, The Damned Utd by David Peace, is a work of fiction at the very least & that many of the incidents portrayed never happened. Indeed, it would seem the falling out between Brian Clough & his longtime friend & assistant manager Peter Taylor (played by Timothy Spall of Wormtail fame in the Harry Potter films) is “reimagined” in order to give the movie a more uplifting ending. Kind of sappy, but I wasn’t really troubled by it during the movie, only after my research clarified the timeline of the incident. I guess everyone is entitled to their redemption, even if it didn’t happen in “real life”. One thing is certain, though. The animosity between Brian Clough & Don Revie (played by Colm Meaney), the manager of Leeds United, is very real. Clough shepherded his basement dwelling team, Derby County, up the ranks of English soccer teams, until he finally finds himself facing Leeds United, a team with a reputation for dirty play & their manager, Don Revie, who allegedly encourages his team to play dirty because, frankly, that’s how they win. Clough goes to great lengths to show Leeds that his team is worthy of a place alongside them, but Leeds beats Derby soundly & quickly leaves the stadium without a word. Clough is horrified & spends seemingly the rest of his career railing against Leeds & Revie every chance he gets both publically & privately. When Revie takes the position of English Team Manager for some reason that wasn’t really apparent (unless I was distracted by Michael Sheen’s rippling muscles in those short soccer pants & missed it – very possible!) he encourages Leeds to choose Clough as his replacement. Clough takes the position & proceeds to alienate just about everyone he comes in contact with. He tells the Leeds players that all the awards they have won are crap because they didn’t win them honestly, which really endears him to them! They refuse to play for Clough & Leeds stops winning, which then endears him to the Leeds fans. He lasts all of 44 days before he is sacked.

I suppose this movie could have easily become sappy & trite (indeed, it comes perilously close to it) but the performances by those mentioned & those not, such as Jim Broadbent as the Derby chairman, make Damned United a very entertaining film whether you are a soccer fan or no. It’s a wonderful indie film that will be enjoyed by a few with extreme good taste (like my PIC & I) & then go completely unnoticed & underappreciated. So, do yourself a favor & be one of the sophisticated cool people & see Damned United, damn it all!

K: This was a very well made film full of great actors. I like that this wasn't your typical story arc where the protagonist starts from nothing and ends on top. That would have been predicable, and this movie probably would then have never gotten made. Many of you probably aren't planning to go to the theater to watch this one, but please put it in your rental queue. You won't regret it.

OK, now I have to turn into a stupid little five year old. For some reason there is nothing funnier to me than to watch grown men call each other twats. I giggled every time someone called someone else a twat. TWAT! I told my PIC that I'm going to start working twat into my regular vernacular to which she replied that nothing would make her happier. So don't be a twat; watch this movie!