Bill Nighy and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor star in an uplifting drama about a homeless football team heading to Rome to represent England in the Homeless World Cup.
Being a hardcore football fan who loves Rome, this film had me curious well before I sat down to watch it. Besides, the amount of decent, football-related works of fiction made since the start of cinema are few and far between. Plenty of room for more.
Off the top of my head, the only ones that I've seen that are truly memorable are The Damned United and Looking for Eric. Most of the rest - well, from my experience - aren't really worth bothering with.
The Beautiful Game just about gets away with it thanks to a really strong cast that includes the likes of Bill Nighy, our own Tom Vaughan-Lawlor and the always impressive Callum Scott Howells.
Those three are all involved with the England homeless team, with Nighy playing Mal, the unlikely coach (he does a fine job, but is just too posh for the role to seem credible), while Vaughan-Lawlor and Howells are team-mates in the side.
Just as the England team is preparing to depart to Rome for the Homeless World Cup, Mal enlists Vinny (Michael Ward), a clearly talented footballer who's still coming to terms with both his homelessness and life in general.
He's oil in the group's water: his prickly attitude leaves him isolated as they start the tournament, which is as much a road to potential redemption and starting over as it is a few games of football in the park behind Rome's Castello Sant'angelo, just up the Tiber from the Vatican.
As the story unfolds in a familiar, if slightly unpredictable fashion, some folk fare better than others. But the message remains earnestly upbeat. And there's a Man of the Match performance from Michael Ward.
His acting chops have seen him nominated for a few awards in recent years, but here he also shows off his ability as a footballer. He even does a neat Cruyff turn, which isn't something you'd learn at RADA.
The Beautiful Game won't change the world - that stuff is left to things such as the real Homeless World Cup - but it's a solid and entertaining film that should put a smile on your face.
The Beautiful Game is available on Netflix
