Viewed in
2011
Formats
Premier cable TV
Premise
A down-and-out middle-aged British man gets some help from his imaginary friend, his futbol idol, Manchester United's Eric Cantona.
Liked
The balance between comedy and drama.
Disliked
Lighting.
Thoughts
A surprisingly good dramedy, thanks to the writing and the actors.
The genre-mashup worked because it started off by shifting back and forth between light-hearted moments and heavy melodrama, and it maintained that style throughout. While it did feel uneven at times, overall the story was well-structured and it never felt like I was watching two different movies. It rarely went to either extreme of comedy nor drama.
Helping me stay on the ride of emotions was the performances by the cast. Steve Evets (great palindrome name) deftly weaved between humor and serious, and created a very likable loser. Eric Cantona, playing himself, was surprisingly charismatic and personable. The rest of the cast was solid, especially Evets' chums, and ex-wife, played by Stephanie Bishop.
Two things that bugged me were the ending and the lighting. I found the climax to be incredibly implausible, and was a little surprised that it took the comedy route to get the emotional payoff. The jokes fell flat, and I thought the film deserved an ending with more substance. Also, there was very little lighting, so it was hard to see the actors' faces and reaction, as well as making everything feel flat.
It wasn't great, but I was genuinely surprised by this film. It managed the balancing act of dramedies very well, and the cast was very likable. I classified this as a sport genre movie really because of Cantona playing himself, though there was actually very little sports going on.
What I would change
Fixed the lighting.
