There’s no denying that Bill Nighy has been on a roll lately.
And for evidence, all I need to do is share the last two newly released films that I have seen him in (in that order). Speaking of which, at the Oscars held in 2023, he was nominated for Best Actor for the film Living and award he certainly deserved. It is a strong, primitive performance and very emotional. Then, earlier this year, he has a cameo in Role Play as a coffee shop owner but later gets to be the highlight of that stupid film (or, more likely, the reason I can claim I kind of enjoyed it).
In The Beautiful Game, Nighy plays Mal, the manager of the England team at the Homeless World Cup, a real event held every year which brings together homeless teams from all over the world to compete in a four a side football format similar to a World Cup knockout stage. He also recruits Vinny (Michael Ward), a potential Glory boy, late in the piece who still has some things to learn about teamwork.
First and foremost, as someone who had never even heard of a tournament that has been held for two decades now, I appreciated the knowledge and the perspective that the film brings forth. To think that in such circumstances, people have the chance to showcase their skills before the world is just wonderful. How right those words are for them can be seen on the screen.
I love the sentiment of this move as well. This angle really resonates with so many people, how sport can drive change in one’s life. More importantly for the story here, we are presented with the opportunities that such competition gives the participants and what sport provides them with in spite of the awful circumstances they may be in back home. Exploiting the device of the tournament, a large number of tales constructed around the empathy of the participants are told through the film. With this core principle of the film, the viewers quickly warm up to our leads (and even the sparring opponents) and the film creates a lot of admirable characters.
There’s a sense of satisfaction about this film that makes this directed piece rather unique as I feel it conveys importance, especially in a world today where it is all rather uninspiring. But for a film marked purely by its visuals, I found the majority of my feelings left more than a little irritated.
When it comes to my complaints, it is mostly everything that is not a ‘true story’, which can thankfully be teased out quite nicely: the plot is a work of fiction that uses an actual historical event as its backdrop. That said, there is a great risk that it becomes something incapable of engaging.
The details about other members of the team, or any character that is not Mal or Vinny, for that matter, are quite scant in the movie. This level of information about these people was enough for me to get a little invested in the movie but not enough to allow me to buy in completely. And even with Mal and Vinny, I still do not really feel invested in the way the movie wishes to during most moments of melodrama except for the looks which I assume the entire premise was built around. Which is unfortunate because then, I may have to say that no performance is exceptional either. The best you can say of anybody really is that they are okay.
I’m placing a lot of blame in what doesn’t work here towards the entire formula. While the event itself may be new and interesting, the tale it is bundled with has been around for eons. That said, one’s attention span when it comes to sports genres usually gets the floor raised so I would definitely enjoy this one more than others. This is no exception. However, the moment when the script uses drama for the umpteenth time and what is supposed to be a ‘twist’ is as predictable as the weather.
That being said, to be fair, there is no reason to deny the film’s accomplishment: It grabbed my attention and made me want to seek out more information about the event. (Colin Farrell, the producer, represents The Homeless World Cup Organization.)
For more movies like The Beautiful Game visit 123Movies.