KickOff

Beautiful game
"KickOff" comes from a long line of gay-themed sports films (or should that be sport-themed gay films?), but unlike, say, "The Broken Hearts Club","KickOff" actually works.

I could kick any number of superlatives into the back of the net (ahem) - funny, sexy, slick - but none could do justice to this joyful little masterpiece, that shoots razor sharp one-liners one after the other. Similarly, I could single out any one of the brilliant cast, who all somehow manage to be outrageously sexy and funny, but we'd still end up with a tie. Funniest gag, best laugh-out-loud line? Sorry, too hard.

A good many of us will find football a huge turn-off, but Beadle-Blair uses its bag of kit - literally, the kit, WAGs, even the "soccer Mom" - to huge comic effect. This is a film about people, not soccer.

And it looks stunning: colourful, vibrant, and absolutely bouncing with energy... It shouldn't matter, but there's nothing of the amateur indie about this feature...

Gay football and a heart to boot!
At last a film that does what it says on the box. I pre- ordered this a month before release and was hoping that it would meet half my expectations; it has done more than that.

The plot is pretty straightforward, in that a gay 5 a side football (or soccer to our American chums) team wants to enter the Sunday Soccer league, but the `captain' is desperate to keep their gayness hidden. He has left it to his boyfriend to order the kit and he chooses pink (sorry fuscia!). In a fit of anger he tears off the tops of all the team, and things just get sexier from that point.

That is not a plot spoiler, as I kinda knew that was the point of the film. But what happens is a story of all of the participants, as they face up to the many demons that face them. We have fag hags, misplaced attraction, and a step dad who just wants to do the right thing. This is not a sex fuelled film, but more a study in relationships, and with a real south London twist.

To quote the...

Silly without being especially funny...
I like trying all sorts of gay film titles, and in my experience comedies usually have a rougher go of it than dramas, which is too bad because we all need to laugh...

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