The Match

Peter McGinn

This movie can be harmless fun as long as you can lower your expectations more than a little. The entire premise of the film seems more than a little dubious to me. Why would owners of two pubs 100 years before make a bet based on one of them winning 99 matches in a row? Was one of the teams so bad and with no hope of ever getting better that making such a long-term bet based on the next 100 games made sense? Or, more likely, was this a plot gimmick dreamed up by the scriptwriters to create cheap but instant suspense? Yes, that was my conclusion also. Still, the movie was entertaining enough to keep me watching, though just barely. If you like escapist romantic comedies, give this one a try, and let it wash over you.