Sports films are getting harder and harder to admire, mostly because they all pretty much follow the same formula, which inevitably ends up pitting its protagonists against a bunch of unlikable miscreants in The Big Game That Will Change Everything.  But because it's about my sport of choice, I cut A Shot At Glory a little bit of slack, despite its succumbing to the typical genre clichés.

Robert Duvall (John Q.) plays Gordon McLeod, the manager of Kilnockie FC, a local soccer team from a sleepy coastal village in Scotland.  They're a second-division club (the equivalent of AA baseball) who play in a tiny, rundown stadium, and their American owner, Peter Cameron (Michael Keaton, Jack Frost), has hinted he'll move the team to Dublin unless they win the Scottish Cup, even though they haven't won any kind of cup in over 100 years.  In an attempt to facilitate a Cup run, Cameron has acquired two-time Golden Boot winner Jackie McQuillan (Ally McCoist), a once-great player on the downside of his career, on a transfer from Celtic.

McQuillan's cockiness (he refuses to take the bus with the rest of the team yet makes more money than the entire team combined) isn't all Gordon has to confront.  The arrogant git also happens to be the same guy who married Gordon's daughter Kate (Kirsty Mitchell).  Gordon hasn't spoken to Kate since the wedding because it took place outside the church, which means McQuillan isn't exactly high on his list of favorite people.

So Gordon has all kinds of personal stuff going on, in addition to his team's unlikely run at the Cup, which is helped by a lucky draw that pits perennial powerhouses Rangers and Celtic against each other in the semifinals.  Gee, I wonder if The Big Game will be a finals showdown between Gordon and his arch-nemesis from Rangers (played by Brian Cox, The Rookie)? I wonder if McQuillan and the backup American goalkeeper (Cole Hauser, Hart's War) will be big factors?

There are a couple of things that elevate Glory above most of its ilk, most notably the mere presence of Duvall, who even offers up an impressive Scottish accent.  The performance of McCoist is also noteworthy, considering he's an actual soccer player and not a professional actor (an interesting note: This role was originally supposed to be played by Russell Crowe).  He makes Shaq look like...well, Shaq.  Keaton is a little annoying, but that may have more to do with my confusion over an American owner investing in an insignificant Scottish soccer team.  Glory is also nicely scored by Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler.

Glory is set in a country that considers soccer to be more important than life or death, but how will it play here, in the land where NASCAR and golf are deemed sports?  Will American viewers understand the difference between Kilnockie's Cup and League matches?  Will they appreciate the importance of the Celtic-Rangers Cup tie, or will they be too distracted by the draw being shown on live television?  Will the few people familiar with European soccer in this country be pissed off about the film's inaccuracies, like the fact the Cup matches aren't two-leg ties?

1:55 –

for language and brief sexuality