Disappointing

Rating: 3/10 (25 June 2008)

I stumbled upon the television series: The Real Football Factories. I quickly became a fan of the show and Danny Dyer's personality and narrative skills. Upon researching who Danny Dyer was, I was excited to discover that a Football Factory film had been made and he was the star. Living in America, I knew nothing about the film or its director Nick Love. The synopsis of the movie immediately reminded me of the concept behind Green Street Hooligans, a film I thoroughly enjoyed. Therefore when I finally sat down to watch The Football Factory, I did so with a level of expectation that had already been set by Green Street. Unfortunately, The Football Factory fell well short.
The story is totally undeveloped and lacks any kind of complexity. Throughout the entire movie the character's only means of interacting with each other are by drinking, using drugs, or fighting. After a while this simply becomes annoying... as do the characters. The only exception to this is the grandfather but one has to wonder why he was even included in the movie. He had absolutely no influence on the story and could have been written out all together with no consequence.
The only positive comments I have about this movie are that Frank Harper, Tamer Hassan, and Danny Dyer turn in quality performances. However, this alone is not enough to save the film. By the end of the movie I didn't care who lived and who died. This is a problem since at some point during a film your average movie goer generally finds themselves identifying with someone on the screen or their cause. While watching The Football Factory, I simply felt like I was stuck in a room with a bunch of obnoxious drunks who deserved to have the sh*t kicked out of them.
Skip this one.