Green Street Hooligans stars Elijah Wood as a Harvard student, who's going through the motions by following his father's professional footsteps to a career in journalism. But just a few months away from graduating the Ivy League, he takes a fall for his high profile roommate, who's charged with coke posession. Wood's expulsion leads to his departure to the United Kingdom, where he joins a local soccer gang that teaches him a lesson in manhood, brotherhood and livelihood.

There are two types of bad films - the kind that's so bad, you're begging for the credits to start rolling, and then there's the kind that's so bad, it's fun. That's Green Street Hooligans. The script is so awful, if the producers told you it was written by someone beyond the grade level of 7, you'd call boulderdash. Throughout the film, you can't tell whether the director aspires the viewers to envy a gang's comradery or pity their stupidity.

Mediocrity aside, there are a few rare and profound moments. Alas, the concept of the movie isn't a poor one, but it's the amateur direction and writing that destroys any credible message Hooligans tries to score with the audience.
_________________

Tragically the script is actually accurate. I watched this film in a room with two guys who are in their 30s and both had been football 'fans' during the time the elder brother in film was supposedly one of the gang leaders.

Consider if you will that most of the boys/men who went on these organised bashes were very much under the influence of alcohol and would have been drinking from the time they finished work on a Friday to the time they go to bed Sunday night. The adrenaline's pumping the alcohols flowing and the last thing they are thinking about is how good the insult they are hurling at the persont hey are about to kit 7 bells of **** out of is.

If you want a fairly accurate portrayal of what the football (yes I will say football because I am English and that's what it is) gang scene was like (I say was because the police have managed to stop a fair bit of it) then this is a film for you.

I imagine the American aspect of the film (American star as the lead and the Harvard schooling aspect) was added to try and encourage an American audience.

The point of the film wasn't to portray the gangs as hooligans more to make you understand how it escalates into the headlines on the newspapers. Passion and devotion leads to violence and destruction.

You're not encouraged to feel sorry for the characters nor are you encouraged to hate them because quite simply it is life, and as in reality there is rarely anything that is simply black and white.
_________________
CultIdols.com where the sublime meets the ridiculous!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zerabira:
Tragically the script is actually accurate. I watched this film in a room with two guys who are in their 30s and both had been football 'fans' during the time the elder brother in film was supposedly one of the gang leaders.

Consider if you will that most of the boys/men who went on these organised bashes were very much under the influence of alcohol and would have been drinking from the time they finished work on a Friday to the time they go to bed Sunday night. The adrenaline's pumping the alcohols flowing and the last thing they are thinking about is how good the insult they are hurling at the persont hey are about to kit 7 bells of **** out of is.

If you want a fairly accurate portrayal of what the football (yes I will say football because I am English and that's what it is) gang scene was like (I say was because the police have managed to stop a fair bit of it) then this is a film for you.

I imagine the American aspect of the film (American star as the lead and the Harvard schooling aspect) was added to try and encourage an American audience.

The point of the film wasn't to portray the gangs as hooligans more to make you understand how it escalates into the headlines on the newspapers. Passion and devotion leads to violence and destruction.

You're not encouraged to feel sorry for the characters nor are you encouraged to hate them because quite simply it is life, and as in reality there is rarely anything that is simply black and white.

---

he didnt really go and join the gang more so he was drawn in to it - another reference to the fact it can happen to anyone and they don't have to be a thug to be a leading figure in that kind of life.
_________________
CultIdols.com where the sublime meets the ridiculous!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zerabira:
he didnt really go and join the gang more so he was drawn in to it - another reference to the fact it can happen to anyone and they don't have to be a thug to be a leading figure in that kind of life.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ghostman:

Sure, it's possible, but the idea of a timid Ivy League nerd giving up his graduation diploma for gang life is more than a stretch.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by cinemaKid:

quote:

---

Originally posted by ghostman:

Sure, it's possible, but the idea of a timid Ivy League nerd giving up his graduation diploma for gang life is more than a stretch.

---

Really? So, I watched the movie recently, and the story kind of made sense to me, though I did not think that the script was well-written.

He got tricked and he got kicked out of Harvard. Now he feels like he has no future. So, he goes to see his sister in England whom he has not seen for 2 years or so. He wants to change the scenery. Before he decides what to do next, he just takes some time off. He wants to go wild. So, what does he do? He becomes a Hooligan. He hangs out at a pub, drinks a bunch of beer, chats about football, hangs out with simple people, have some laugh, watch (real) football and have some fan.

The script was not well-written unfortunately, but it's it conceivable that some people can relate to this story?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ghostman:
I've personally never known anyone who got accepted to Harvard, but I did know two bookworms who got into Stanford. None of them would've dared miss a homework assignment. IF they got unfairly kicked out, they would've went crying straight to their moms and dads, not take the passive "ah-screw-it" route that Elijah takes and undergo an extreme makeover.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by cinemaKid:

quote:

---

Originally posted by ghostman:
I've personally never known anyone who got accepted to Harvard, but I did know two bookworms who got into Stanford. None of them would've dared miss a homework assignment. IF they got unfairly kicked out, they would've went crying straight to their moms and dads, not take the passive "ah-screw-it" route that Elijah takes and undergo an extreme makeover.

---

Well, a couple of kids at Duke raped women, so ... nerds, bookworms or whatever you call can get pretty violent evidently. Maybe not the best example ...

---