The Match (1999)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Mick Davis

Writer (WGA):

Mick Davis (written by)

Release Date:

13 August 1999 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

It's a game of two pubs!

Plot:

Two Scottish pub soccer teams play each other in order to resolve a century-old grudge. Whoever wins the game gets to keep the other team's pub.

Plot Keywords:

Soccer | Wager | Soccer Football | Flashback Sequence | Independent Film

Cast

Max Beesley	...	Wullie Smith
Isla Blair	...	Sheila Bailey
James Cosmo	...	Billy Bailey
Laura Fraser	...	Rosemary Bailey
Richard E. Grant	...	Gorgeous Gus
David Hayman	...	Scrapper
Ian Holm	...	Big Tam
Neil Morrissey	...	Piss-Off
David O'Hara	...	Mechanic
Bill Paterson	...	Tommy
Iain Robertson	...	Danny Van Boy
Tom Sizemore	...	Buffalo
Sally Howitt	...	Carol McGhee
Michael Nardone	...	Dingus
Samantha Fox	...	Patsy (as Sam Fox)

Also Known As:

The Beautiful Game (UK)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Loch Lomond, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK

Company:

Allan Scott Productions

Movie Connections:

References Per un pugno di dollari (1964)

Soundtrack:

You Can Get It If You Really Want

A Delightful and Exciting Dramatic-Romantic Comedy

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')