The Damned United

THE DAMNED UNITED (2009) - Feb. 7, 2011
An enjoyable film about Brian Clough, a cocky soccer coach (sorry: football manager) and his doomed effort to make it as the manager of Leeds United.  I actually had absolutely no knowledge of the whole story going in, which turned out to be a good thing (I sort of figured that the film would follow the usual template and that Clough would ultimately whip his team into shape and be victorious, which was obviously not the case).  I was always entertained, though the soccer-heavy narrative was a bit much at times (there was almost nothing of any of the characters' personal lives; it was all soccer all the time).  Still, it was well made, and more importantly, very well acted: Michael Sheen was as good as ever as Clough, and the always reliable Timothy Spall was just as good as his assistant.  ***