Eleven Men Out (2005)

Overrated and overhyped

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Blistering performances.

Warning, potential spoilers...Eleven Men Out is a rare European film, and one that doesn't play for the big laughs or go for the obvious moments. Director Robert Douglas, paints a knowing and fun look at a side of Icelandic culture that few outside of the country will know. Using his previous deadpan approach, the comedic moments come from his unique skill at characterising and recognising the odd quirks that make up every day people. He takes great joy in turning stereotypes on their heads; in one gay sex scene, the lead actor is having anal sex with his teammate on the living room sofa, when his 13 year old son comes in, catches them at it, and shrieks 'fucking perverts', while dad just replies matter of factly, 'Hi son, what're you doing here?'. This is the kind of humour that is rife throughout Eleven Men Out, but sometimes, the comedy can be so deadpan, that you do have to pay attention, or you will miss it.The ending too, isn't quite as you would imagine. Again, Douglas takes an almost gleeful approach, deliberately toying with audience expectations to then deliver a low key, but yet satisfying, conclusion. My only warning is to say that this is not an Icelandic Bend It Like Beckham, a story of how the underdog does good, so if you go in not expecting that, you should enjoy this. My last comment on this subject - any film about football which doesn't actually contain hardly any scenes of football, wins my vote! Douglas is a brilliant and challenging filmmaker who, only in his early thirties now, already holds the title as one of Iceland's top film directors. I look forward to seeing what he produces in the next few years and hope that his work starts reaching global audiences.

I saw this last night at the Fort Lauderdale Intl Film Festival and I was disappointed. While the Cast (especially the lead) is quite stunning to look at, most of the film's only laughs come from the lead's drunken ex-wife. The print of the film we saw was blurry and could not be focused. It was very hard to keep up on reading the subtitles, they were very fast, much faster than normal. The story just didn't go much of anywhere and the ending was quite uneventful. The look of the film is of course very cold and gray, I assume this was filmed during the summer, I can only imagine how gray, cold and isolated it would look in winter. Lots of old lame gay jokes and of course the needless use of drag queens. (why does every gay movie have to have a drag queen lurking about somewhere). Wait for the DVD on this one, but don't expect much.

The film wastes no time getting to the meat of the story: a successful player in one of Iceland's top soccer teams reveals to the press that he is homosexual. That revelation and how it is done produces the only good laugh. For the remainder of this gay caper, the humor goes flat. (Humor is of course cultural. Maybe in Iceland they find the film funny.) The real underlying comedy is how the main character's homosexuality is the object of virulent reproach while the wife's chronic drunkenness is almost accepted as normal. As can be expected of such light fare, all ends in a positive mood and with a big hurrah for gay pride.

It's been a long time since we've had a genuinely funny film here in Iceland. Been to dramatic over the last years. This film is first and foremost a feel-good and light affair about a star football player that comes out of the closet and the way he and his family deal with it. It's not the old story of somebody coming out and having huge problems with it, the main character here seems to have no problems with his gay life and it's more his teammates and most notably his teenage son and ex-beauty queen wife that have some unclear issues about him being gay. The film decides to take the humorous road and it's refreshing to see a film about gay themes that does not take itself too seriously. It does have it's dramatic moments, but the drama/comedy is a nice blend and the film makers manage to do this very well. The director has been very popular here in Iceland with his earlier films but has yet to do anything notable outside of Iceland, this seems to be the film that might get him noticed abroad, let's hope so anyway.