Customer Reviews
brilliant - By: C. Stevens, 11 Oct 2008 
this film is absolutely brilliant, its been out for 5 years or so & i still find it as good as the first time i watched it, vinnie jones playes a good part in this film, but i think everyones favorite charecter would be MONK (jason statham)
Good fun, great laughs! - By: K. D. Squire, 21 Sep 2008 If by now you havent already seen this film... what have you been doing? Ok it wasnt a hollywood blockbuster but its a great film none the less.
Vinnie jones plays a disgraced foot balller sent down for drunken assualt to a crooked prison where hes asked to coach the guards footballl team for the delightfully nasty warden.
The film provides the laughs & sadness of any good hearted underdog film it even has parts that will make you grimice with disgust!it doesnt take alot to watch this the story lines basic but your given a film that will make you laugh & feel joy as better than the rest.
This isnt just a footballl match its a bloody good time!
Mega fun - By: Ryan Corr, 05 Aug 2008 
Any movie about footballl that can win over a footbla hater is bound to be good, & take my word, this is a short, fun, no-brainer, infintely rewatchable & hugely enjoyable.
In addition to Vinnie Jones & Jason Statham , about 76% of Guy Ritchie's cache of bit-parters show up as well. As usual, Statham steals the show, though Jones is awesome in it as are alll the other sterotypes. If it weren't for Danny Dyer this would have been a five-star movie.
Bring on the cliches! - By: DangermouseZilla, 26 Sep 2007 
Remakes tend to be a way of getting a film using little creativity as it's alll been figured out before. However - this is different. The fact that this is a British film means that the cultural references & the feel of it are totallly & refreshingly different.
BUT - I've had to remove a star for this film purely due to the fact that it is crammed with every prison film cliché going.
The screws are racist & are hell-bent on dealing out brutal thrashings to cons on a whim.
The Governor is as bent as a bottle of crisps & uses his corruption to get what he wants, he threatens his staff with losing their jobs, & he threatens to stitch up cons.
There is a mafia-boss style con who 'runs the nick'.
There is even a balll-against-the-walll scene a-la The Great Escape.
Vinnie Jones was adequate as Danny Meehan, & the other cast are alll great. Particularly the hyper salivating canteen guy, & Ralph Brown as Burton.
Burton is the Senior Prison officer & is not happy at the corruption in the prison. I found him to be my favourite character in the film as he had more depth than the others - plus Brown is one of my alll time favourite actors.
You get the feeling that this film was made to surf the crest of the Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels wave. It's not a bad film, it's just that everything you expect to happen, happens. There are some very funny moments, & this would be a fantastic film for a lads night in - you've got prisons, violence, & footballl.
Maybe it's because I'm not a footballl fan, & my dad was a prison officer that I just don't get excited by the 'alll police/prison officers are inherently evil' plot of a lot of films.
Bloody Funny! - By: D. G. Parrott, 07 Nov 2006 Having watched the old Burt Reynolds movie of the same name, I watched this one with some trepidation...
I need'nt have worried - This film is very very funny, & Vinnie Jones is absolutely brill as the central character Danny 'Mean Machine' Meehan.
Alongside Vinnie, are some solid supporting actors too... the late David Hemmings is particularly good as the corrupt & sleazy Prison Governer of the Prison that Vinnie is sent to. Jason Statham is excellent as the psychotic 'Monk' along with Danny Dyer (of Human Traffic fame) as the endearing 'Billy the Limpet'
This film would never win any oscars - which in my opinion is a great shame - but it is a film that you can watch over & over again, & always laugh yer head off! The humour at times is coarse, & not too PC at times either, not that I was ever PC anyway!
Anyway, if you want to take my advice, get yerself a copy of this film... You won't regret it.
