Best ** (2000, John Lynch, Ian Bannen, Jerome Flynn, Ian Hart) – Classic Movie Review 2121

Writing with director Mary McGuckian, actor John Lynch realises a long-cherished ambition to tell the life story of former Manchester United football legend, George Best – ‘I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars, the rest I squandered!’. But sadly, alas, he leaves it far too late to play Best himself in this 2000 biopic 

Lynch might be ultra-fit and dribble to perfection, but he’s simply a great deal to old to play the wonder boy of Sixties soccer, looking in his feeble makeup more like Shylock in a touring theatre company than the Beatle-lookalike Bestie. However, Lynch is fine later on when he plays the older Best.

But there’s worse: Roger Daltrey as Rodney Marsh, Jerome Flynn as Bobby Charlton, Ian Hart as Nobby Stiles, and Linus Roache as Denis Law. Can you imagine? Well Probably not!

Almost everything single thing that could go wrong with this film pretty much has. We learn virtually nothing about Best except that booze and birds were his downfall which is, er, rather well known anyway, and even the much-vaunted seamless process work where the actors seem to appear on the pitch in old footie newsreels goes to no avail.

The late Ian Bannen brings the film its sole real distinction as Sir Matt Busby, the manager who tries to harness Best’s talent. And it says much that Patsy Kensit as a composite character of the poor, mistreated women in his life, isn’t by any means the worst thing in the movie. Even die-hard fans of the game won’t like it because there’s hardly any footie.

Adrian Lester, David Hayman (as Tommy Dougherty), Clive Anderson, Sophie Dahl, Stephen Fry and Cal Macaninch are also in the cast.

Before the film came out, Ian Bannen died in a road accident on November 3 1999, aged 71.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2121

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