guilty football pleasure

I just happened to catch the last half of Goal! The Dream Begins (2005) while I was eating lunch. (I've seen it more than once.) I freely admit that the movie displays many qualities that in film are considered derivative: clichés abound, emotionally manipulative music swells at the right moments, and it features a script that is all too predictable. By any cold-eyed, objective standard, this is not a good movie.

But I don't care! Lover of football that I am (that's "soccer" in the States), I can look past the cheesiness and appreciate some fairly realistic play on the pitch. You find yourself caring what happens to our boy Santiago (played by Kuno Becker). There are even some real-life players in the film, including Zinedine Zidane ("Zizou") and David Beckham. I'm afraid, however, that Becks doesn't have acting as a career for the long run!