Green Street Hooligans

Green Street Hooligans stars Elijah Wood as a journalism major who has just been wrongly expelled from Harvard and retreats to England to stay with his sister but ends up apart of the surprisingly violent underworld of extreme football fans.

I know that description sounds a little silly, but trust me, this movie is ridiculously violent.

Anywho, I hadn't watched Hooligans since 2005 when it came out. At the time I was extremely affected by the film. I had just moved out of my parents house for the first time and was living with 5 of my best guy friends, so I was instantly drawn to the camaraderie that was being displayed in the movie. I was just starting to be comfortable on my own and with my friends so after watching a movie about guys doing nothing but having each others back, I very easily related to that and in turn held the movie up in very high regard over the next few years.

Going into it again, I expected to have a somewhat strong emotional reaction and while I still really liked it, I definitely realized it's a much weaker movie than I remembered. It was director Lexi Alexanders first movie and it really shows. There are multiple scenes and plotlines that fall completely flat, specifically any moment where Elijah and his father are on screen together. It's supposed to be a big moment for Elijah, having stood up to his father for the first time about having never been around, but instead it's just kind of there. No real payoff or emotion. This scene also leads to an even sillier moment in the film having to do with Elijah's past as a journalism student that also does nothing to add to the film.


Having lived a good 24 hours from most of my friends for 2 years now though, I still find myself drawn to the film and its depiction of friends and family above all else. Charlie Hunnam in particular stands out thanks to his incredible performance as the leader of "the firm" and the one who takes Elijah under his wing.

Overall, while not being as great as I remembered it, I still really like Green Street Hooligans and would definitely recommend giving it a shot.