Mike Bassett: England Manager

Unlike most football related films this one actually references real football rather than a dreamy game that the good guys always win in the end.

As with any sport related movie though it has limited appeal outside of someone that has an interest and understanding of the "Beautiful Game". In this case more so as really you need to be English and have suffered English international football to understand everything the film has to offer.

The jokes don't always 'hit the back of the net' but there is no need to 'send this one off' - (sorry for the puns).

On the whole an enjoyable diversion that sometimes does cut close to the bone (especially as the F.A. are falling apart us as I write this).

This film is almost a remake of the documentary about England's Manager Graham Talyor made during the qualification for the 1994 world cup. It follows a below par manager from the lower leagues who has to take on the England job when no-one else wants it. There are loads of hilarious scenes and those who know football will recognize plenty of characters based on real people in the football world. There are several good performances but Ricky Tomlinson steals the show as Mike Bassett, the part in the film when he loses his temper at half time is hilarious made even funnier as all the bad language is bleeped out and believe me the bleeping is the only thing you hear. Top draw film, one every football fan MUST SEE!!!!!!!!!!

Only an Englishman would truly understand this film. Classic! I have rated it probably a lot higher than I usually would have done. I have rated with the heart because for me, this is definitely a guilty pleasure movie.

Ricky Tomlinson was a great choice for the lead role as Mike Bassett, England manager. The writers and director have thought of everything. It truly depicts all the heartache, the ups, the downs, the wild side (well maybe in the 90s lol), the tension, the fans, the drama.... EVERYTHING! It is summed up perfectly.

Ok, it is not a Hollywood Blockbuster I agree, but for the English, it is a great film to watch, especially before a football tournament, to get you in the mood. It makes you truly proud to be an Englishman, and even though we have suffered over 50 years of hurt (in the men's game). We are a unique and proud bunch of football fans and despite all the struggles over the years, deep down, we love our team and our country, no matter what. Best fans in the world! At least give us that ;-)

Mike Bassett:England Manager is a mock documentary about a new England Manager and the trials and tribulations he goes through during qualification and subsiquant world cup in Brazil. There are loads and loads of funny moments in this film and i promise you even if you are not a football fan you will like this a lot. Basically we see Ricky Tomlinson brilliantly playing the new England snatched from the first division as manager of Norwich City into the spotlight.We see all the things that really happen to England managers but exagerated ten fold with very funny consiquences such as the moment he wrote his first England team down on a fag packet and gave it to his P.A to type out for the press , 10 minutes later there were two new players added to the squad.......Benson & Hedges!!. One uncanny thing that does come out of the film is the results in the world cup, England beat Argentina 1-0 and go out of the tournement to Brazil ., exactly what happens a year after the film is made in the real world cup in Japan! 8 out of 10.

This mock documentary about an England World Cup campaign has many funny moments, but it can only fully be appreciated by people with a good knowledge of English football.

The film is clearly modeled after the famous Channel 4 documentary "Graham Taylor: The impossible job", it only had to ever so slightly caricature its real life model to turn it into farce. As a result, the film has moments where it is hilarious and strangely realistic at the same time. Proof of that came a few years after the film was made, at Euro 2004, when David Beckham missed a penalty in almost exactly the same way (and by the same margin) as the England striker in this film.

Not all the jokes work, e.g. the car salesman turned England coach trying to flock Korean cars to England players just did not not ring true, but others were close enough to real life to make me laugh out loud, e.g. the video tape incident or the Pele interview.

The film will probably find it hard to find an appreciative audience outside Britain (certainly outside Europe), because there are too many footballing in-jokes. For example, when we hear about Mike's playing career with stints at Doncaster Rovers and Crewe Alexandra then this is very telling to a British audience, and the avid football follower in the rest of Europe can just about get the gist of it, but everybody else would be left bemused.