Kicking Off (2015) Reviews

• Offside

  Prismark102017-03-06

  Kicking Off is a low budget black comedy with a lot of kinetic energy and visual trickery that disguises the fact that the profanity filled muddled screenplay has ran out of steam. Football fans Wiggsy (Warren Brown) and Cliff (Greg McHugh) are sick as a parrot when on the last day of the season, their football team is relegated. Their goal was disallowed and soon after the other side scored. The duo are gutted. Wiggsy decides to kidnap the referee (Alastair Petrie) and get him to admit that he made a mistake in disallowing the goal. Cliff is perplexed and horrified that some pub banter has gone badly wrong. The film is obviously inspired by The King of Comedy. Petrie who so often plays the snivelling villain gives a nicely understated performance as the god fearing ref who quickly figures that his kidnappers are barking mad as well as inept. Wiggsy is the hothead whose actions signify that he is losing touch with reality, maybe due to the fact that his love life has gone awry. The film is uneven in tone, too often switching from comedy to violence.

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• Good idea, poor execution

  kosmasp2016-08-12

  No pun intended. I really liked the idea and the pair of main characters really have a good chemistry together (one could argue their friendship is what holds it all together). The actors do a decent job. So what do I think went wrong? And I'm not talking about the actual plan (if you want to call it that). Well I'd say that the pace but especially the intentions are a bit muddy to say the least. It also changes far too often (mood swings), has logical errors and if you're not interested in football (or soccer if you're American), than this will leave you cold. The basic idea also could be described as a bit mental. Then again, if you are into the world of fandom, you might understand at least part of it. Still it could've been better, even though it has quite a few nice moments in it (though a character falling down twice is at least one too many)

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• A comedy about friendship and the dangers of hatching a kidnap plot after too many beers

  dcrothnie2016-05-27

  It's the last day of the season and loyal fans Wiggsy (Warren Brown) and Cliff (Greg McHugh) assemble for a crucial denouement. It's simple: win and the team stays up; lose and they're down. When their team appears to grab a vital winner in the dying seconds the boys wild celebrations ensue, only for them to discover that the referee (Alastair Petrie) has disallowed the goal. Chaos ensues and Wiggsy and Cliff (reluctantly) decide to take matters into their own hands. To Wiggsy, it's simple: Get the referee to admit he made a mistake in disallowing the goal, and the team stays up while Wiggsy becomes a hero. What can possibly go wrong? This is a very funny film with strong performances and great writing which ensures you don't need to be a football fan to enjoy it. Football is the hook on which the action hangs, and it explores obsession, betrayal and blind faith with a deftness of touch. The dialogue is great and the scenes involving the interrogation of the referee in particular are very funny and clever. Brown (Wiggsy) and McHugh (Cliff) put in strong performances and Danielle Lineker is great as Wiggsy's long-suffering girlfriend but Alastair Petrie's understated performance as the kidnapped referee is wonderful. At its heart is a story about male relationships, the blurring of the line between hope and reality and how you shouldn't really mix football and real life - a beautifully-constructed and nicely timed comic gem ahead of another summer of potential football glory or crushing disappointment.

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• A Strange Little Movie

  RJLee20172017-01-13

  ** Mild spoilers(?) ** Not being a fan of "football" (soccer to me), maybe I'm missing the point on this one, but I came away from this indie film with the strong sense that it wasn't quite sure what it was supposed to be about. Is it the meaning of life? The fanaticism of football fans? Our own personal obsessions? I'm not sure, and I don't think the writer or director knew either. On the one hand, the leads give strong, memorable and lively performances, and the movie certainly has its funny moments. I would love to see what they could do with a stronger script and better character development. Certainly Warren Brown evokes sympathy for a rather unlikable - and uneven - obsessive character (Wigsy) who has major impulse control issues. On the other hand, this movie sort of moves along like Cliff's unreliable van - stopping, starting, sputtering, slamming into things and characters, before eventually dying entirely. I could also have done without the Scorcese-like level of profanity, particularly the use of the "f" word, which, to these characters (and apparently the scriptwriter) is used like punctuation. I didn't bother counting, but it's possible that, had this movie been longer, it could have rivaled "The Departed" for most profanity used in a movie. Dear script writer: We get it. The characters are stressed. Use your imagination and expand your vocabulary. 5 stars out of 10 - fine actors, interesting premise, and potential wasted.

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• Great film - more than your average sports movie

  mattleopold2016-05-31

  This movie is good fun and full of laughs. However, it is much deeper than the standard sports movie. It effectively digs around concepts of fanship. It tests the viewer to consider their passions and beliefs. Do you know where to draw the line between passion and obsession? How do you know when enough is enough? Do we take games too seriously? Some really deep ideas that are well explored with great humour and a brilliant plot. I thought this was a well written, well directed and well acted movie. Good fun and interesting. The shooting style kept attention and pace. It felt distinctly British.

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