 |
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
|
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
 |
|
With Euro 2012 looming, football-based films are bound to get an airing. Sylvester Stallone will no doubt
be saving a last minute penalty in Escape
to Victory, and Film4 will dust off the only remaining copy of
Mike Bassett England Manager too, in which the team will probably do
better than in real life.
The best received football films
have not been about what happens on the pitch, but what happens on the
terraces. And in the pubs, the tube stations, and the streets. Football
Hooligan Films all seemingly attract 20-something lads to the cinema like
moths to a flame. So Nick Love will be rubbing his hands at the repeat
fees for The Football Factory and his remake of The Firm.
Which lead me to the newest kid on
the block, Tash Force. A comedy
filmed in documentary style, the story follows Head of Blackburn football
intelligence, Tash McDermott, as he prepares for a League Cup tie between
Rovers and West Ham.
The film crew follow Tash
throughout his day to day dealings, ‘nipping in to see his snitch’ and
going undercover to infiltrate the criminal element, in search of Hooligan
kingpin, ‘Nightmare’. Only Tash is a poor copper, and it soon becomes
clear that his investigation will bear no fruit.
The film has been made on zero
budget, so 90% of it is Tash talking to camera. The only action is the
hooligan’s ruck, which is pretty well filmed considering the
constraints, but offered more as a backdrop to the main story, for reasons
that will become clear on watching. So, the success of the film rests on
whether Tash McDermott is funny.
... and he is! Played as a typical,
broad, northern bloke stereotype, with unreconstructed views on everything
(but mainly women in the work place), he trips out spoonerisms, mixed
metaphors and other misnomers (‘I’m like Joe Pasquale in Badfellas’)
like he’s going for the Guinness World Record. This is British Character
Comedy at its best.
In the same vein of Alan Partridge
or David Brent, he has a high opinion of himself, is misinformed on
everything, and is funniest when his back is against the wall and he is
thrashing out. Due to Tash’s character, this happens several times, and
is probably at its best when he addresses his team towards the conclusion.
The actual constructed gags in the
film are hit and miss, and very predictable. Actor Mark Woodward does his
best with them though, and wrings the last laughs out of every situation.
Unfortunately, this cannot really
be said of the rest of the cast, who (aside from a very funny and all too
brief scene with Tash’s mum) offer no foil for his jokes, and you would
be hard pressed to remember any of them when the credits roll.
This can be levelled at Ian
Wiggins, playing the documentary film maker, and the only other lead.
There is a little attempt at caustic banter between them,
but this soon becomes repetitive and wears thin quickly. Wiggins plays the
interviewer very straight, and does
not attribute any quirks to the character. He lacks the inquisitive charm
of a Theroux or the bullish interrogation of a Broomfield, the documentary
styles the film is trying to ape. In my opinion, this character would have
been served better as a voice behind the camera, as it was in the original
viral, leaving the floor clear for Tash.
That aside, Tash Force is very
funny, and is the perfect accompaniment to Euro 2012. It remains to be
seen whether the Tash character has the legs to go on from this film, but
it is obvious as to why Safecracker Films wanted the Pleased Sheep boys to
create a full feature after seeing the viral. He has a cameo feature in
their next film Bar Stewards so
it is obvious they have not finished with him, and this reviewer thinks
that is a good thing. May the police force be with you!
|
amazon.com
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Tash Force at adultvideouniverse.com
