Ben says: If you've read my review of Nick Hornby's other book - High Fidelity, you'll know that I didn't heap undue praise on it. I don't think I will probably ever read the book this film is based on, particularly since it seems, by all accounts, to deal with the kind of minutiae that would soon drive me to distraction.

That's not to say that I don't like football, it's just that I find playing football infinitely preferable to watching it. It doesn't even matter that I'm no good since I can't very well wear my glasses on the pitch (hence my hopelessness with a long ball), I just don't have the kind of trainspotter mentality that would allow me to compare various football players stats through the ages (oh no, instead I know where all the major characters in the Star Wars trilogy come from - a much healthier pursuit, of course).

You might imagine this is leading up to me saying I found the film tedious and football mad, but it is neither of these things. Very sensibly Nick Hornby has converted his own book into a screenplay that will appeal even to women! (gasp!) He does this mainly by taking out a lot of the football references that don't involve Colin Firth's character Paul looking like a bit of a dick and beefing up the love story side of things. And it works. This isn't a film that is ever going to win any great cinematic prizes, but it is fun, funny and endearing, even nice, that horrible word that is so comfortable.

I may never see this film again and not be too worried at the prospect, but I enjoyed it very much while it was on.

Ben gives it:

last updated: 15th April 1997