Young, bullied, unconfident, Manchester teenager Jimmy Grimble (Lewis Mckenzie)is all of these. However, when he is given a pair of old football boots his luck changes and he is transformed into a football boy wonder.
This is worth a watch, it has many of the familiar sports film clichés but is still a somewhat touching tale with a fine cast and fairly good cinematography. Typical sports films usually follow the same type of formula as far as I can see:
1.A team or person are lousy at the sport they play.
2.Along comes a factor in the equation to start to change this. For example an excellent or determined coach to change their fortunes.
3.The team still are'nt winning at first but they have more spirit and are improving. Eventually they win their first game or achieve something in the sport they have'nt before.
4. The coach has a love interest with a players Mum or teacher in Disney sports films. Or a player finds a love interest or struggles in his or her love life.
5. The team enter a competition and win their first game.
6.There are personal problems along the way with players, the coach etc.
7. Eventually the team gets to the final stage of the competition and after a terrible start to the game they look like losing. However, there is a determined fight back and they end up winning, shock horror, who could have predicted that!!
OK, so perhaps this is not the formula for all sports films but some or all of the factors are involved in most. Jimmy Grimble is no exception but I still enjoyed it more than others. The lead performs his part well and the coach is played well by Robert Carlyle who is in a rather subdued role for a change. Overall, this is watchable, even if you don't like football you should get some enjoyment out of it.
Average effort but entertaining enough
