The Damned United is a good film, and not really about football. Most people would understand its focus upon relationships and the notion that Brian Clough was consumed by a need to outdo Don Revie. It's a story about hubris.What stops it being a GREAT film in the mould of Frost/Nixon is the miscasting.
Timothy Spall is good, but it's a missed opportunity to present (much taller and dapper) Peter Taylor as the motor behind Clough's ambition.
The greatest crime, however, is the failure to cast anyone forceful enough to play Johnny Giles and Billy Bremner. They're portrayed as some sort of shambolic double-act, rather than the driven and single-minded individuals that subvert Clough's ambition in the book.
Basic the decision to portray all the players as a bunch of unathletic slobs in cheap wigs undermines the integrity of the film, which is all the same well recommended.
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