Reds & Blues (2010)

Fan is short for fanatic in ‘Reds & Blues’ (2010)

Reds & Blues: The Ballad of Dixie & Kenny is a football farce about 2 sets of ardent fans who live next door to each other in Merseyside. One neighbor supports Everton (Blues), while the other supports Liverpool (Reds).

They taunt each other over the 3-foot fence and perpetuate numerous pranks. Liverpool has 5 Euro Cups but no clear future, while Everton fans are the bitter, twisted, and proud common folk with little to show.

The movie sweetly demonstrates the many ways that fan is short for fanatic. Actors Andrew Schofield (Red) and Paul Duckworth (Blue) are particularly fun to watch as 50 year old dueling diehard supporters. But unless you are a fan of either club, it is hard to get all the in-jokes or recognize the former players who appear in cameo roles. And being American, without closed captioning I couldn’t understand all the dialogue.

However, in Liverpool this film was a big hit, and Writer Dave Kirby transformed it into a local musical theatre production. There is a lot of singing in the movie, including a battle rap between the two pensioners. Six more songs were added for the musical.

There is no soccer in this movie, it is all about the fans. For more movies about football fans, see this Note

5 Soccer Movie Mom Rating = 5

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