Eleven Men Out tells the story of Otter, Reykjavik FC's top striker, who decides to out himself to a national magazine. He is immediately dropped from the side and decides to play for Pride FC, a gay amateur side. In the meantime, his teenage son struggles to deal with this on top of having an alcoholic ex-Miss Iceland for a Mother. Otter gets to prove his worth by organising a match with his old club during gay pride.
Although homophobia is rife in sport, especially football, the story is not really original and pretty predictable. However, I do not think it was intended to be a major work of art but just really wanted to make a small political point but the film ends up as being inoffensive and unmemorable.
The acting was nothing special and surprisingly wooden in parts. The relationship between Otter and his son was not believable. Despite this, there are light moments of comedy with the drunk ex-wife and the un PC brother. Otter himself is more like a character from Footballers' Wives and certainly had the looks if nothing else.
There was moments of comedy when they travel out of Reykjavik and you get a real sense of what an Icelandic fishing community is really like.
Iceland is not known for its cinema, and this sits in the shadows of the far superior 101 Reykjavik for any serious fans of European cinema. However, this was a light movie that is mildly entertaining and good for a week night in and perhaps I should not expect so much from it. I just wish such an important topic could have been done a lot better.
2.5/5 - Has its moments but really fails to deliver what it sets out to achieve
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