Green Street Hooligans (2005)
[7]
Elijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam star in this story about a wrongfully-expelled college student who falls into the dangerous British subculture of football ‘hooliganism’. The closest thing we have in America are street gangs, but the British ‘hooligans’ are a little more organized and revolve around football (soccer in America). Wood plays the disenfranchised student while Hunnam plays a higher up in the Green Street Elite gang. Wood is at first a little terrified of Hunnam and his cronies, but slowly and surely falls under their spell. Writer/director Lexi Alexander uses the street battle backdrop as a way of showcasing very human needs — to be wanted, to be trusted, to belong among brothers. So you get both the warm embrace and the cold reality of gangs in Green Street Hooligans. Wood is reliable, though perhaps a little too wide-eyed and innocent for the part. Hunnam gives probably his best performance to date here. Claire Forlani also stars.