Parents' Guide to The Damned United

Adapted from the controversial novel of the same name, this sporting drama enlists a talented cast to bring to life one of the most eventful periods of soccer manager Brian Clough's storied career. Just don't expect The Damned United to be a true-to-life biopic, as many of the events here are compressed, distorted, and even invented for the sake of telling a (more) dramatic story. The action revolves around Clough's brief but memorable stint at Leeds United, with Sheen portraying our lead as relentlessly ambitious but also a man bearing a gnawing grudge against his predecessor, rival manager Don Revie (Colm Meaney).

While the movie sensibly focuses on a relatively short period of Clough's career to tell its story, there's no escaping the liberties it takes with what actually happened, something that is likely to make soccer fans who know their history tune out. What's left is a briskly delivered and well-acted rise and fall redemption story that just happens to revolve around a soccer manager. Sheen's foul-mouthed megalomania keeps things entertaining, though, and it's also a fond reminder of an era of English football that might lack today's abundance of world-class talent, but was a time when underdogs could defy the odds and triumph.