Peter Bradshaw 

The Rise and Fall of a White Collar Hooligan – review

Paul Tanter's medley of shopworn geezer-drawn-into-crime cliches has a modicum of originality, but it's depressing stuff, writes Peter Bradshaw
  
  

The Rise And Fall Of A White Collar Hooligan
Paul Tanter’s film turns on Nick Nevern's meeting with an old mate, which lands him in all sorts of dangerous and violent trouble Photograph: PR

Paul Tanter's film adds a tiny twist to a tired old genre epitomised by aggressive and self-pitying "true-crime" geezer operas such as Essex Boys and Rise of the Footsoldier:. A football hooligan gets inducted into some criminal business – in this case, cloning debit cards. All the shopworn cliches are in place; as ever, the movie is based on the semi-reliable memories of an allegedly decent-ish bloke who got out of his depth. Nick Nevern plays Mike, an unemployed guy who meets up with an old mate, Eddie (Simon Phillips), who gets him into a dodgy set-up. Soon, Nick's getting serious cash – which he blows on coke, champagne and brassy blondes – and earning doe-eyed reproachful looks from his tragically nice girlfriend when he staggers home at dawn. Inevitably, the whole thing turns out to be more dangerous and violent than he realised. There's a target demographic for this sort of fantasy on DVD, but it's a pretty depressing experience. PB

 

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