When Saturday Comes

Set in the grimy North of England we see Jimmy Muir, played by Sean Bean, being discovered by talent scout Pete Postlethwaite to play football for top tier club Sheffield United to escape the drudgery of his working class roots. This is your classic rags to riches story that had some possibility set in the world of football however the script is riddled with cliches, Maria Giese's direction is totally uninspired and the film takes itself way too seriously. On top of that Sean Bean is about 15 years too old to be playing such a character, being 36 at the time, an age when most footballers are thinking about hanging up their boots.

We even get a Rocky style training montage done Yorkshire style in the cold and dank streets of Sheffield that is quite embarrassing and instead of cheering him on we're only inspired to be quietly pleased for Jimmy as he makes his triumphant return to form after messing up his initial trial for the club after going on a drinking binge.

Sean Bean is more at home in meatier roles playing darker characters in blockbusters like Goldeneye, Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. This film needed a lighter touch from a younger actor who would have been more convincing playing Jimmy Muir, where the taste for glory would have come across as meaning so much more to a younger character.

When Saturday Comes has all the working class cliches of living up North such as rebelling against an abusive father, getting drunk down the local pub, leering at topless women in a strip club, working in a dead end factory job and having the younger brother being unable to escape his roots by working down t'pit.

Both Postlethwaite and Emily Lloyd do their best with the material they are given but it feels like it was made in the early 1970's rather than the mid-90's. No doubt die hard Sheffield United fans will get some pleasure from it but for the rest it's as flat as a warm pint of bitter.

When Saturday Comes is directed by Maria Giese who also adapts the screenplay from a story by James Daly. It stars Sean Bean, Emily Lloyd, Craig Kelly, Pete Postlethwaite, John McEnery and Melanie Hill. Music is by Anne Dudley and Joe Elliott of Def Leopard fame, and cinematography is by Grant Cameron and Gerry Fisher.

Jimmy Muir (Bean) loves football, beer and women, his lads life is fun but certainly it could be better. Perhaps now that he is dating sexy wages clerk Annie Doherty (Lloyd) things are starting to settle in his life? More reason for optimism is that his football prowess has been noticed by Ken Jackson (Postlethwaite), the coach of Hallam FC, a man with friendly links to the manager of Jimmy's beloved Sheffield United. The world, it seems, is Jimmy's oyster, but problems at home, of the heart and socially, could scupper Jimmy's last chance for glory and life fulfilment.

Completely fantastical rags to riches sports movie with a keen eye for working class based social realism, When Saturday Comes is one of the better football based movies out there. But it is in a genre splinter that's hardly brimming with quality anyway. True enough to say it's treading familiar turf, and the ending holds absolutely no surprises at all. While the last quarter of film badly rushes to get to the "punch the air moment", to leave the picture with a whiff of emptiness. But it's the off field aspects of the tale that strike the better chords.

Jimmy Muir is basically a good guy, he's just caught in the vortex of a blokey lifestyle. Themes of a parental stymie and peer pressure add a bite to the screenplay, especially since the backdrop is one of a working class place that offers only the mine and the brewery for employment. Football is Jimmy's beacon of hope, it keeps him sane, but can he be all he can be? As a character study, with Bean adding grit and emotional guts, Giese's film is assuredly a winner, if only the football aspects weren't so choppy and amateurish, then the film would be better thought of in the sports movie sphere.

Led by Bean, the performances are up to a good standard, even Lloyd, who manages to get away with an iffy Irish accent because her portrayal of Annie is so spunky and grounded. The photography suitably paints it as "Grim Up North", and Dudley's score is melodic and sits nicely with the various emotive turns in the narrative. There's issues and goofs within, especially obvious to those who know about British football, like how old is Bean? Mel Sterland playing for Sheffield United? A home semi-final in the FA Cup? And there's that annoying rush in the last quarter, where everything is condensed without thought to building up expectation. But it shoots and scores most of the time, particularly when away from the football pitch. 6.5/10

WHEN SATURDAY COMES is a little, British football flick but brilliant. Quite similar to FEVER PITCH but ten times more better. It provides booze, sex and excitement on the pitch. You can't get fed up this the first time you watch it. Brilliant and FULL MONTY style, this film was so exciting and Sean Bean gives a good performance. It was so good that my popcorn finished a quarter of the way through it, that's how excited i was even though i had a mega-deluxe bag. Blood rushed was rushing all over to different parts of my body. All that i could think of was football, sex, booze, football, sex, booze. WSC. What pardon?. WSC. I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1. It is more exciting than watching boring, boring Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Brazil. Ah, what's wrong?....your hot dog finished?, tomato ketchup spilt down your jumper. WSC is brilliant.

If my opening sentence isn't clear enough, I must reiterate that this is without doubt one of the worst films I have ever seen. SEAN BEAN a trainee? He is clearly older than Gar McAllister. SEAN BEAN having casual sex with a stripper? Sean always appears to have spent the day down a coal mine being sprayed with acid. The man was in Sharpe people, I'll accept no half measures.

This is "Rocky", English football style. The plot is predictable, but so what? It is about doing the best that you can, learning from your mistakes, and having courage to change things for the better. A good flick and well worth watching.