‘The Beautiful Game’ Review: Bill Nighy Gives Micheal Ward a Sporting Chance In a Spirited Soccer Drama

Guy Lodge Film Critic An assortment of familiar life-as-sport metaphors get a healthy workout in “The Beautiful Game,” a story of underdog athletes for whom winning may not be everything, though it’s a welcome distraction from greater obstacles. For many viewers, Thea Sharrock‘s cheery Netflix entertainment may serve as an introduction to the real-life event on which it’s based: the Homeless World Cup, an annual soccer tournament bringing together displaced or dispossessed players from nearly 50 countries, playing not merely for a trophy but for a second shot at life.

As a premise for an inspirational sports drama, that’s close to unbeatable, and no amount of rote writing in Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s patchy script can dim the film’s lump-in-the-throat effectiveness. Though drawn from the stories of a range of Homeless World Cup players, the film ultimately centers a single team — England, of course — from the event’s international tapestry, and rests on a couple of stock sports-drama figures.

Bill Nighy is the impassioned, never-say-die coach keeping his men on track even as morale flags, Micheal Ward the gifted hothead yet to learn the value of team spirit. Others — a recovering addict playing for personal redemption, a determined young woman dreaming of the big leagues, a wily South African coach scraping through the competition on a wing and a prayer — provide additional incident in a somewhat overlong two-hour feature, though the characterization never goes so deep as to compromise the film’s feelgood messaging.

For most of its participants, the tournament is a respite from harsher realities. “The Beautiful Game” depicts it in that spirit, from the broadness of its culture-clash comedy to the brightness of Mike Eley’s