IN A NUTSHELL...

The Story: Elijah Wood stars as a young American who gets involved with West Ham's hooligan firm (the Green Street Hooligans) after being unfairly expelled from Harvard. The strong supporting cast includes Charlie Hunnam, Claire Forlani, and Leo Gregory. Wood's experience of watching West Ham tallies with most people's - "There are few adjectives to describe it," he says, "it really is unlike any sporting event I've ever been to in my life."
UK Box Office: £0.446 million (as at 11th September 2005)
Useless Fact: Director/co-writer Lexi Alexander was part of a football firm for three years whilst growing up in Germany. She's also a black belt in karate.

AUDIO...

LISTEN: Director Lexi Alexander discusses the making of Green Street and her own days running with the Mannheim firm in the 80s...

VIDEO...

WATCH the Green Street trailer:
Slow speed . Medium speed . Fast speed

THE REVIEWS...

"Alexander shoots and edits with a striking sense of energy and urgency, filling the screen with attitude, bravado, and seriously horrific brawls" (3.5/5)

"Lexi Alexander punctuates her film with extended fight sequences that boast a bruising, muscular authenticity. Sadly, nothing else rings true" (2/5)

"Taking football hooligans at their own estimation of themselves is the object of this efficiently crafted but naive and faintly bizarre drama" (2/5)

"The fight scenes have an intoxicating visual impact, but man cannot live on beer and bloodshed alone" (3/5)

"While Alexander neatly emulates Fight Club's visceral impact in her bruising punch-up sequences, its scabrous satire is sorely missing" (2/5)

"The most effective stuff comes from Gregory who brings such a snivelling vibe to his role, you could swear you were watching the young Kinski" (4/10)

"Wanting to be like Alan Clarke's The Firm but not quite managing it, Green Street's low production values do it no favours at all" (2/5)

"It's an uneven affair with convincing fisticuffs but Wood ultimately fails to cut the mustard as the Yankee bovver boy" (2/5)

"This British release (by way of Hollywood) is a spectacularly misjudged examination of football hooliganism" (1/5)

"Green Street is a colossal misstep at every turn... it's patronising, cheap and violent in all the wrong ways" (1/5)

"The film doesn't glamorise gang violence so much as sentimentalise it, which is probably worse" (1/5)

"While watching the woefully miscast Wood never convinces, even worse is the sight of drama school boys swanning around pretending to be Cockney sparrers" (2/5)

"This fantastically unconvincing film thinks it's really hard-hitting, but I've been hit harder by plot twists on Emmerdale" (registration required)

WEB WATCH...

Green Street
Official site

It's Kicking Off
Football in the movies article

"Going to a match is just so exciting"
Elijah Wood interview

"People thought I was making the most violent film in history"
Lexi Alexander interview

"A load of pork pies"
Green Street article