There`s Only One Jimmy Grimble Review

Jimmy Grimble, Lewis McKenzie, is an unhappy 15-year-old. He doesn`t like his Mum`s new boyfriend - he much preferred her previous one, Harry, Ray Winstone, who treated him as an equal. His school soccer coach, Eric, Robert Carlyle, encourages him, but Jimmy`s a bit puny alongside the other kids, and he`s constantly being bullied by the school`s top football player. Plus there`s a girl who seems to fancy him, but he never knows what to say to her. And then, a miracle happens - an old lady gives him a pair of apparently magic boots - Jimmy becomes a star player...Despite a good cast, this rather laboured fantasy doesn`t begin to compare with the recent Purely Belter. The tone is light, but the treatment is unsubtle and the Manchester accents are often difficult to decipher. Lewis McKenzie makes an appealing character out of the eager young hero, but Robert Carlyle is stuck with a wimpy role as the football coach, Ray Winstone has very little to do, and Gina McKee makes Jimmy`s mother, a pleasant but irritating character. A feel-good film in which you know from the start everything`s going to turn out fine, this has few genuine surprises.