Goal! The Dream Begins... (2006)reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
Santiago, played by Spanish soap star Kuno Becker, is discovered by a former scout for NewCastle United football club in England. Although it's never really explained why, the scout and former Newcastle star named Glenn Foy, played by Stephan Dillane (The Greatest Game ever Played), helps Santiago get a trail period with the English club. The young illegal American soon works his way through the ranks to help the team qualify for European competition in this first of three installments. This sports movie is super cliched and melodramatic i.e. the father who is unsupportive of the protagonist and the rival player jockeying for a spot on the first team roster. "Goal! The Dream Begins..." ripped elements of "The Greatest Game ever Played," "Rudy" and totally bit a line word for word from "Miracle," which really annoyed me. The film had a handful of good moments, enough to convince me to see the sequel slated to release later in 2006. Something else I noticed - the big climactic game had time continuity problems. The game was at 3 p.m. in London, during the day, and Santiago's family watched the game from a packed bar in Los Angeles, also during the day. Los Angeles is seven hours behind London, so those people were packing in the bar at 6 a.m. How is that possible? It would have been better to just have Santiago's family get up early in the morning to watch it on TV in their own home. Given the time difference, it was noticeable that both locations were during daylight is my point. Overall, no one should feel bad about missing this first installment to a probably lackluster trilogy. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
This movie was everything I thought it would be, and that's not a good thing.