Offside (2006) Online

Story: A lousy soccer team in the countryside are forced to win the last games of the season. In order to win they reinforce the team with a previous FA-cup champion, Duncan Miller.

This is another one of the Swedish "feelgood movies". It is a good movie, with a large portion of humor and includes some less successful characters that are pictured in a warm and nice way. (Typical Swedish!)

Actors are all doing a good job and Torkel Petersson (also in Kopps) is once again doing a really funny part as a Swedish "redneck". Worth noticing is that the female soccer player Tina Nordlund is doing a perfectly OK job. Sportsprofiles are seldom really successful on the white screen!

Feelgood movie? Yes, indeed. Another picture, there the Swedish countryside is viewed like a zoo, although sympathetic.

It's about the football team coming closer and closer to the final degradation. Then, it finds the solution: It's the English legend, the scorer in two FA Cup finals. But there's one problem when he arrives in Sweden. He's an alcoholic.

Jonas Karlsson, Torkel Petersson and Ingvar Hirdwall never do bad performances and without them, this would have been too much according to the manual. This is light entertainment for 1h 45 m, but nothing that goes to film history. Definitely not.

Recap: Anders is the playing manager of the local soccer team. The town is small, unemployment high, so the soccer team is a central piece in the life of Anders, and many others in town. But Anders got problems, big problems. He and his wife are both unemployed, short on money, and their marriage is on the verge of breaking. Anders father, himself an old hero from the soccer team - now a wheelchair bound alcoholic, is very demanding. The team is failing badly, and will be disbanded if they cannot save the season and avoid relegation. Suddenly they got hold of Duncan Miller, an old football hero from Liverpool and the FA-cup, and everything seems promising. But when Miller arrives, they discovered that he too is an alcoholic and haven't played soccer in over a decade...

Comments: A typical Swedish "comedy" with a fitting name. Fitting because it goes, as most Swedish comedies do, way offside. But then, that this is a comedy may be a misunderstanding on my part. However, from what I heard and read before watching it pointed in that direction. I hoped that this should be one of the few Swedish comedies that actually wanted to be a comedy, free from anxiety. What do I get? The main focus, the main plot, is on a dysfunctional marriage, with a subplot of a strained relationship to an alcoholic father (and childhood hero) and the depopulation of the town. Then we have a subplot focused on the team and soccer. This is very typical of Swedish comedies, first focus on a social problem with the aim of being entertaining taking the back seat. And I'm so sick of it! It is not funny to see Anders and his wife at the counselling arguing. It is not funny to see Anders running about submissively anytime his father calls.

Still, there are some moments to laugh, I give them that. Like islands in an ocean of misery they pop up from time to time. But then true to the heritage of Swedish comedy - most jokes is about someone making a fool of oneself. But there also are a few rare moments when the comic effect is actually based upon some situation, surprise or challenge of norms. In this movie they could be found in the subplot concerning the soccer, and I am disappointed that that subplot wasn't given more attention. Then we could have had a real comedy. If the soccer-plot would be given the most attention, then there could have been something to build on.

And to speak of the drama-part it is very simplistic. It could have been interesting to see a deep probe into the marriage in this region with high unemployment and drinking problems. But the movie wants it both ways (comedy and drama) - and gets neither. The marriage-problem is solved totally, not when in counselling, but after one argument at home. After that, the entire marriage is as good as it could get, second honeymoon coming. No real problems or questions ever touched. And the alcoholic problem? One meeting at Alcoholics Anonymous took care of that. And in addition to that, the movie is extremely predictable.

The cast is worth mentioning. Mostly they're not that bad, although their talent of comedy is in serious question. But then again, they were not really trying, were they? It was after all, not really a comedy. The best performance is given by the imported actor Brendan Coyle, who at times seem to be the only one capable to deliver a line properly. Tina Nordlund, not really an actress, but an retired soccer player from the national team, does a good debut. Her acting talents may need some working upon, but she added some skill with the ball that was rare elsewhere. From the others I expected more.

In conclusion, this is a typical Swedish Comedy/Drama. If you enjoy those, you will probably enjoy this. If you, like me, don't like them, you will be better off avoiding this one. Still, because of the few rare jokes that was really funny, and some international ambition and collaboration a 4/10

The movie itself is an ordinary Swedish "make you feel good"-movie but the scenes where they play football is outstanding and really funny. Even more funny if you have played football on that level yourself. Tina Nordlund was one of Sweden's best female football players a couple of years ago and she make her acting debut surprisingly good in this movie. I can really recommend this picture if you are a fan of football but if your not, go see Jalla-Jalla or Cops instead. It's also a movie about different family situations, alcoholism, shattered dreams and the courage to brake up something and start all over from scratch again. A perfect movie to see when youré hangover.