Review of The Damned United (2009) by Anish D — 28 Mar 2010
Nothing particularly mind-blowing going on here; just a really solid, pretty high-quality piece of entertainment. It also has that one guy from Snatch playing a douchey soccer player. Anyway, Michael Sheen plays his strengths well here as the ambitious ego-run-amok soccer coach, Brian Clough, of Derby county and, of course, Leeds United.
The film's main focus is Clough's meteoric rise to the upper crust of British soccer coaching royalty from the perpetual underdog Derby County FC to Leeds, and the relationships he de-prioritized in his ascent - particularly that of his longtime partner and friend Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall).
The plot itself conveys a familiar lesson, but it's the brashness of Sheen, the savvy edting in building Clough up as a sympathetic yet tremendously flawed character to lend depth to the scenes where he's a complete ass, and keeping the emotional core of the relationships in tact made The Damned United a very respectable, tidily-entertaining piece of work.
This review of The Damned United (2009) was written by Anish D on 28 Mar 2010.
The Damned United has generally received very positive reviews.
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