The Hooligan Factory, film review: Little to distinguish spoof from films it is parodying

(15) Nick Nevern, 88 mins Starring: Jason Maza, Nick Nevern, Chloe Sims, Tom Burke

Geoffrey Macnab
Thursday 12 June 2014 23:58 BST
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Nick Nevern’s spoof of football hooligan films
Nick Nevern’s spoof of football hooligan films

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Nick Nevern's spoof of football hooligan films doesn't seem that different from the films it is parodying – but maybe that's the point of the joke.

Alongside nods to such obvious forebears as The Firm, I.D., The Football Factory and Green Street, the film features a (mercifully brief) cameo from Danny Dyer, references to the Essex Boys murders (already the subject of several other films) and plentiful nods in the direction of Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas.

The trump card is Nevern himself. He is very funny as king of the thugs Dex, who tries to recapture the glory days of the 1980s, when his "firm" was the most feared in the land.

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