Mike McCahill 

The Guvnors review – feral losers and former hooligans

This unsubtle effort treats one-time football hooligans as if they were Camelot knights, and features a twinkly David Essex, writes Mike McCahill
  
  

The Guvnors
No nuances … The Guvnors. Photograph: Craig Sugden Photography Photograph: Craig Sugden Photography/PR

Gabe Turner’s mixed urban drama pursues a workable dramatic idea with a laughable bias, pitting the feral losers of a Ssouth London estate – led by Rizzle Kicks’s Harley Sylvester – against erstwhile football hooligans who have moved out into suburbia. The latter group are as romanticised as King Arthur’s knights, nobly pulling their shivs out of retirement; it’s no shock to see former football hooligan Cass Pennant listed among the producers. Pleasant surprises include a twinkly eyed David Essex cameo, but nuance it knows not: every other scene veers towards the usual rucking, and Sylvester does so much aggressive sniffing you want to hand him a hankie.

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

*