00:00It's all kicking off off the pitch when we revisit that time that Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy
00:05infamously fell out in Saipan. In the days leading up to the 2002 World Cup in Japan,
00:10the Irish football team coached by Steve Coogan's Mick McCarthy fly out to Saipan to get accustomed
00:15and train before the tournament, including their star player and captain Roy Keane,
00:19played by Ianna Hardwick. But when they arrive at the hotel, they discover that the facilities
00:23are inadequate, for which Keane blames McCarthy and tensions flare as he tries to convince Keane
00:29not to fly home. This was a huge story back in 2002, especially in Ireland, and I did wonder if I
00:36was going to enjoy this given I have very little interest in football or soccer for you, Yanks.
00:41But this isn't really about football at all, because really it's a 90-minute match between
00:46two big egos. It's telling how divisive this subject is even now, over 20 years later, that the first
00:53thing you see before a myriad of production company logos is a legal disclaimer. That's how you know
00:59that things are going to go down. A lot of Saipan plays like a comedy of errors, especially once
01:05they arrive and Keane's room has a broken AC, the team is being catered with cheese sandwiches,
01:10the pitch is barren, and oh, they haven't got any footballs, which is a bit of a problem when you're
01:14a football team trying to practice for a World Cup. McCarthy compensates by trying to keep morale up,
01:20and there's a fair bit of rampant partying among the players, dancing and going out on banana
01:25boats. One of several exaggerations the film allegedly makes, but this only rankles Keane
01:30further, who is used to the slick professionalism of Manchester United rather than something that
01:34more resembles a budget package holiday. One particularly amusing running gag is an absurdly
01:39large cutout of Keane's head that keeps being pushed out of his sight, lest it raises ire.
01:44As you can probably tell, this dramatisation plays a bit loose with the facts of what happened,
01:48but Lisa Barrow-Saar and Glenn Layburn, who directed Good Vibrations, give the film a cracking pace and
01:54visual energy, and really capture the mood and feeling of the period. That's especially thanks
01:59to the extensive inserts of archival footage and news reports, which match very well with
02:03the meticulously recreated production design. The two lead performances are excellent, Coogan
02:08plays McCarthy as flustered and exasperated, with an Alan Partridge-esque streak of bringing up his old
02:14charity record, while Hardwick's Keane is devoted to the game, but difficult with a quick temper and
02:19sense of superiority to his teammates. Keane just doesn't respect McCarthy, and their bickering is
02:25coded as one of cultural identity, with Keane specifically challenging McCarthy's Irishness,
02:30which is also a dramatic invention. But as a piece of drama, I was genuinely surprised at how much I
02:36enjoyed Saipan being a rare football movie that hits the back of the net, even if neither side of
02:41it comes out of it particularly well.
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