Mike Bassett: England Manager film review

certificate_15

MIKE BASSETT: ENGLAND MANAGER

Football is a funny old game and Mike Bassett: England Manager is a funny old film, a British comedy set in the dog-eat-dog world of international soccer.

The incomparable Ricky Tomlinson plays Mike Bassett, old-fashioned manager of first division Norwich City, who takes charge of the national team when the old manager suffers a heart attack. The team loses its first two matches and barely qualifies for the World Cup finals in Brazil.

In South America, results are disastrous and the players' antics provide plenty of fodder for the tabloids, especially Tommo Thompson (Jupitus) from The Sun. Footballing legend, Kevin Tonka Tomkinson (Kelly) is a particular liability - he is arrested after fraternising with a woman who turns out to be a man.

But Mike refuses to give up. "You've got to take every opportunity that comes along," he says. "You only go round once - unless you're Glenn Hoddle."

At a press conference, he makes an impassioned speech for the fans. Football is coming home, it seems. As Mike says himself: "We invented the game of football and gave it to the world. Now I'm gonna go out there and get it back again."

Mike Bassett: England Manageris a treat for footie fans everywhere, distinguished by a tour-de-force central performance from Tomlinson. He invests his team leader with determination and good humour, but is prone to the odd explosive outburst - witness the expletive-laden tirade in the dressing room.

Priceless one-liners and Bassettisms, as they will doubtless become known, are in abundance. Occasionally, some of the humour is a little weak and scores an own goal, but the gags generally shoot from the penalty spot and score big laughs.

The mockumentary format provides director Steve Barron with plenty of scope for laughs, catching the players and manager at their lowest ebb.

Cameos abound from the sublime - Pele, Gabby Logan (nee Yorath), Ronaldo - to the plainly ridiculous, Atomic Kitten. Great stuff.