The Damned United 2009
I remember hearing about this movie and it got very good reviews, so I was happy to get to borrow it using a Screen Pass. Michael Sheen plays an amazingly arrogant manager of British soccer clubs. The movie isn’t really about soccer, but more about this guy’s early career, his relationship with his assistant, and how he came to be named the manager of the best team in England at the time, Leeds United, which happens at the very beginning of the movie. With flashbacks we get filled in on the background. You don’t see much of what he is doing to manage his team, except for making some key player transactions. Instead you see his warped personality at work as he racks up wins. I was not at all familiar with the English football system, but it explained well without a lot of exposition. I had no idea of the history or what was going to happen since I had never heard of any of these people. With his new club he ends up in a real jam and I wondered how he was going to get out of it as time expired in this fairly short movie of 97 minutes. I would have liked to have seen a little more of what made him successful rather than just the personality stuff. Michael Sheen plays the part perfectly as you like the guy despite his many flaws. Timothy Spall as his beleaguered assistant is also very good, maybe his best role I’ve seen. The film also looks great, with colors and styles taken straight from the period of 1968 to 1975 in England. Still, while very solid and an interesting story, it didn’t blow me away.
Written: 28 Mar 2021