The Damned United

Drew's Thoughts:
The previous collaboration of actor Michael Sheen and screenwriter Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon, was a slog through mediocrity and their newest collaboration, The Damned United, avoids being a slog but mediocrity still prevails.
The film centers on Brian Clough, considered the UK's greatest soccer manager. The filmmakers make two interesting choices, the first of which is focusing on the major failure in his career (a forty four day stint as the Leeds United manager) and the other is they don't try to make Clough likable either. Despite the interesting approach, I still came out feeling a bit "ehhh..." You can point to the constant, unnecessary jumps back and forth in time, the failure to fully develop the characters and flat direction all as problems but to me it seems like Peter Morgan just doesn't really have any talent for screenwriting. I've seen The Queen and Frost/Nixon, and though this was better, Morgan writes some of the dreariest dialogue around and never finds a way to get the audience to give a damn about anything that happens in his movies.
This film is about a self-destructive coach driven to achieve ultimate success or his distorted image of it. That right there is a premise with potential for a few fierce cinematic fireworks but there is no tenacity in the dialogue or the direction. I can think of a few great sports movies that center on self-destructive individuals, one of them won the Golden Dolphin last year (though, to be fair, that's a "sports" movie). Instead The Damned United just limps along until the credits roll, like an injured player who manages to get the job done but can't keep up with those around him. The film has the feel of a missed opportunity more than anything else.
However, Michael Sheen's performance as Clough is actually pretty good though. He's far from a great actor but he's still a decent one and for me his performance was the main thing that kept me interested. Having already seen him play Tony Blair and David Frost, I was surprised how much he seemed to be Clough and without a trace of his previous performances. He'll surely be squeezed out by the end of the year but Sheen's work here is one of the better male lead performances I've seen so far.

Colleen's Thoughts:
I agree mostly with Drew's thoughts on this film. I especially agree with Drew's point that this movie felt like a "missed opportunity." I mean come on we are talking about the best fucking manager in the UK! And those redcoats are CRAZY about their football. A bio-pic about the best manager in the UK should be anything BUT boring or mediocre. If someone is the best at something their IS a great story behind it. Unfortunately, that story is not told here. I left the film still wondering, so why do I care about Brian Clough? And what did he himself do to become the best manager?
To be fair, this movie isn't that bad for this year. It is on par with many others. I guess the reason I am just so upset is that this is a UK FOOTBALL MOVIE! The dialogue should be full of fun swearing and football action and it's not.