The Match (1999)

It's undeniable that this kind of plot was worked and reworked in many movies but "The Match" has a wonderful locale and a decent cast (also starring the American Tom Sizemore). The team of misfits subject is here handled focusing on quirky characters and on a romantic basis (Willie is still in love with his childhood friend Rosemary). This small-town comedy - with a little Pierce Brosnan cameo - dealing with the underdog theme and the football/soccer popularity, could somehow remind other working class stories but it's completely different from Ken Loach pictures because is less centered on social problems and more on a melhancoly atmosphere. However it works

Wullie Smith (Max Beesley) is a handicapped young man with a serious trauma: his brother Johnny died when they were young while climbing a mountain because of his fault. He works as a milkman in a tiny city in Scotland and has a crush on Rosemary Bailey (Laura Fraser). However, he is too shy to declare his love to her. Every night, Wullie meets his friends in a pub called `Bennys'. This place is the fruit of a bet made one hundred years ago, against another pub, `Le Bistro'. In that time, their owners firmed a stake: Bennys would never win Le Bistro in one hundred soccer games along one hundred years. The winner of the bet would take possession of both pubs. In the present, Bennys has lost the previous ninety-nine games, and needs desperately to win the last game. I bought this DVD maybe two years ago in a sale offer, and I have not paid attention to it until today. I have just seen it, and it is a delightful and exciting movie. The story is indeed a comedy, but has also drama and romance. The cast has a great performance and makes the viewer cheers in many situations. I am Brazilian, land of the soccer (The British invented this game, and we improved it), and five times world champion, and I love soccer. This movie has absurd, such as the couch, who is handicap, decides the game shooting a penalty in the end of the match, but who is caring to that? The important thing is `the good guys' win `the bad guys', and this is achieved. It is a very funny situation, because in Brazil, we soccer fans have a saying, which is: `Penalty is so important that the president of the club should be responsible for shooting it'. Therefore, for us Brazilians, it is very funny the foregoing mentioned situation. Pierce Brosnan has a surprisingly participation in the end of the story. This film is highly recommended for fans of soccer. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): `A Aposta' (`The Bet')

Every male character in this movie behaves as if he had the maturity of a ten-year old, or worse. A pub is put on the line for no particular reason. Everything is over-the-top and overplayed to the hilt. Producer Brosnan has a pointless cameo. I found the entire experience an utter waste of my money and time.

Basically The Match is an hour and a half of your life you'll wish you'd spent chewing glass.It is based around a bet which has been placed in a small highland village. If Benny's Bar don't win 'the match', the 100th of it's kind, then the bar will be closed down. It is then up to a team of the locals to play against a far superior team encountering a whole heap of problems along the way, throw in a romance, a death to lift team spirit and Neil Morrissey saying 'p**s-off' an awful lot and that's the gist of it.This film is not funny. I would have had more fun at the dentist. Considering that it is set in the highlands and half the cast aren't scottish but instead choose to talk like characters from The Broons is painful enough for any viewer but with the only real interst taking place in the last 10 mins and a completely predictable story line, I was severely disappointed.The only redeeming feature of the film is that at times it is so bad it is laughable. Don't get me wrong, I set out determined to give it a chance but only got 10 mins in before I was crying with boredom.A lot of good talent was wasted in this film and Sam Fox-whoever let her loose on celluloid should be shot.