|
Eleven Men Out
Directed by
Robert I. Douglas
 This is supposed to be an uplifting tale of self-empowerment, but
winds up just the opposite. In fact, this is one of the most
misanthropic sports films I've ever seen.
Ottar Thor (Bjorn Hlynur Haraldsson) is a star. He's the number one
footballer in Iceland, and everyone loves him with maybe the
exception of his ex-wife Gugga (Lilja Nott), a former Miss Iceland,
but she seems to be okay with the status quo,having joint custody of
their son Magnus (Arnmundur Ernst), whom we see as a normal kid.
That is until a female reporter tells him that coverage of him and
his team is going to be near the back to lack of interest.
So, in order to get on the cover, he comes out of the closet. His
entire family is devastated. His father(Sigurdur Skulason) is furious
for not only the expected reasons, but for being blindsided in such
a way. He decides on an intervention and we meet the rest of the
family, a repulsive brother(co-scenarist Jon Atli Jonasson), who
treats his wife like dirt, and when that doesn't work, he, as the
coach of the club, throws his son of the team.
A friend invites Ottar to join one of the local amateur clubs, and
pretty soon all the straight players have run away and are replaced
by gays. The team is dubbed “Pride Untied.” Now if this were a
Hollywood movie, we'd concentrate on the team and how they went from
success to success with a bump here and there, but this is a
government-sponsored European drama, and thus when Ottar has
custody of Magnus, the latter arrives to see Dad getting head from
a teammate. Mom starts going to pot and winds up in rehab.
Meanwhile, Pride United gets to the top of the league by having most
of the other teams default. This is mean spirited. Nobody comes out
looking the least bit good, with the possible exception of Magnus's
new girlfriend.
The climax is somewhat satisfying, but had the rest of the film not
been such a mess, it would have been a lot moreso.
Go to
List of New Reviews
Go to Index Archives of past reviews
|