ReviewNetflix movie review: The Beautiful Game – Bill Nighy leads a ragtag Homeless World Cup team in feel-good football drama
- A team led by Nighy’s retired football scout compete in the Homeless World Cup, where they are challenged to integrate a skilful but arrogant late recruit
- The picture-perfect Rome setting matches the movie’s rose-tinted sensibilities, and while uplifting, it doesn’t tackle the issues its characters struggle with
3/5 stars
Since the tournament first kicked off in 2003, the Homeless World Cup has become an annual institution, using football to provide struggling individuals with community and an invaluable support network while changing the public image of homelessness and removing the stigma attached to it.
The competition is hosted every year in a different city, and attracts national teams from all over the world to compete in a modified four vs four format.
The Homeless World Cup has been the subject of numerous film and television documentaries, most notably Kicking It, narrated by Colin Farrell, which chronicled the 2008 tournament in Cape Town, South Africa.
Farrell serves as a producer on The Beautiful Game, a new British sports drama starring Bill Nighy and Micheal Ward, which uses a fictional Homeless World Cup tournament in Rome as its backdrop.