Plenty of laughs and entertainment in 'Rudo and Cursi'

Director: Carlos Cuaron

Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Jessica Mas, Diego Luna, Guillermo Francella

Cert: 16

Not all films manage to bring sport across convincingly and football is the one sport that suffers badly, somehow it just can’t truly be captured on screen (from the dramatic point of view at any rate).

But here, since the actual on-field action is limited, we do get a glimpse of football Mexican-style, as played in the lower regions.

Tato (Bernal) and Beto (Luna) are half-brothers with an often fierce rivalry who are spotted by a dodgy talent scout – the wonderfully ghastly Francella – who uses his dodgy means to get them fixed up with a Mexico City club.

They eventually become stars, gaining the nicknames of the title, but continue and escalate their rivalry.

It’s a funny, cynical film that doesn’t cast a kindly eye on the hicks from the sticks but always entertains, shocks and gives a lot of pleasure.

Star Rating: 4/5