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The Damned United

Critics' Pick

(No longer in theaters)

Rating: R — for language
Director: Tom Hooper Cast: Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney, Jim Broadbent, Joseph Dempsie
Running Time: 98 minutes
Reader Rating: Write a Review

Rate & Review

Genre

Drama

Producer

Andy Harries

Distributor

Sony Pictures Classics

Release Date

Oct 9, 2009

Release Notes

NY/LA

Official Website

www.sonyclassics.com

Review

Screenwriter Peter Morgan is plainly fascinated by seminal moments in televisionï¿½the queen mourning Diana, Frost grilling Nixonï¿½and has written a third film that builds to a broadcast interview. The Damned United is more Eurocentric but quite enjoyable, even for those of us who don’t follow British ï¿½football.ï¿½ In 1974, Coach Brian Clough (Michael Sheen) takes over big-deal Leeds United from a man named Don Revie (Colm Meaney), alienates the players, and lasts a miserable six weeks. The film, briskly directed by mini-series whiz Tom Hooper, flashes between Clough’s battles in Leeds and his triumphant early years in Derby, where he turns a second-division team into champions with the aid of his loyal chum Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall). It’s when Clough is sacked and, stricken, goes on a chat show with Revie that he spits out the source of his furious ambition: After their first game, Revie walked past him without shaking hands. Sheen, who played Tony Blair in The Queen and Frost in Frost/Nixon, is lean and wiry with bulging eyes: The angrier he gets, the more frozen. As in Morgan’s other films, TV is a revelatory, humbling force. If nothing else, The Damned United is a profound lesson in how not to be a new boss. — David Edelstein