Watch Footy Legends For Free

How sad is this?

Fantastic!

Better Late Then Never

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Opening on depressing images of Sydney's South West, Footy Legends leads the audience on a journey of self discovery, showing mateship and the true bond of a family, with the tale of an underdog sports team set up against all odds to become Footy Legends. Australian slang and euphemisms make footy legends identifiable as a true blue Australian hit, along the lines of Crocodile Dundee and The Castle. Aussie artists lend their music to the film which adds an extra dimension to the complexities of the story, leading it more into a Drama rather than a Comedy for which it may have been seen as. The Musicians include; Rose Tattoo, Shannon Noll, Hoodoo Gurus, Daryl Braithwaite & Hunters and Collectors. Multiculturalism is evident in the Yagoona team with Players coming from Vietnam, Lebanon, and the Pacific Islands along with White and Indigenous Australians; this allows Australians of all nationalities to enjoy this film. The only drawback is that footy stands for different codes in Australia, Footy is AFL in Victoria, SA and WA but in NSW footy means NRL, the title leaves a little confusion, but this allows the audience to substitute their own sport or hobby for footy.

Anh Do's constant spruiking in the media about what a come-from-nothing, refugee, westy battler he is, which by the way is true, only serves as a cop out. Positioning himself to get away with making such a crap movie. While the background of struggling underdog is certainly there, make no mistake, the accolades and experience are certainly there too. Khoa was widely praised for his previous film, "The Finished People" for which he won the independent spirit award and was also named as "Young Australian Of The Year" and Anh was also "Stand Up Comedian Of The Year" a few years back and is an accomplished stand up comic. My question being that with all this industry cred and decent financial backing and casting... couldn't they have put together a kick butt film. Answer: Apparently not.

Footy Legends is a curious film in that it is the first movie about rugby league to make a genuine impact. It is funny, it is moving and it features plenty of rugby league action, plus a wealth of league legends, including Matty Johns, Mario Fenech, Brett Kenny, Cliff Lyons, Gary Larson, Rod Wishart, Brad Clyde and others.The star of the movie is Anh Do, who is also involved in the writing and production. His performance is exceptional, demonstrating an impressive array of emotions through facial expressions and body language. Here is a young man who can make a big impact on the Australian movie scene, particularly if he can continue to contribute to quality scripts.The other impressive qualities of the movie are tight editing and a wonderful music score. Many Aussie movies lose impact by overplaying scenes and thus losing momentum. Footy Legends avoids this trap by keeping each scene to a length that says what needs to be said, then moves on. This is good editing and a feature of Khoa Do's directorial debut in a fictional feature film.The music score ideally supports the settings and suits the pace and intentions of the movie.Quality Australian actors Claudia Karvan and Peter Phelps add depth to the movie, but it is Anh Do's performance which stands out. Hopefully this will be the start of a long career for this talented performer.Whether the movie has enough diversity to appeal to overseas markets remains to be seen, but it has the right blend of comedy, pathos and "feel-good" to suggest that it will capture the attention and interest of Australian audiences. I hope so, because it deserves a wide audience.

While The Wayan Brothers soil the cinema screens of the nation with their disgraceful suburban themed Little Man, here in Australia we have the Do Brothers, and their challenging, entertaining new suburban comedy drama FOOTY LEGENDS. These boys are actually 20-something Vietnamese refugee siblings who, with a micro budget and a sharp eye for wanting to create intelligent heartfelt films that resonate and inform are succeeding in Australian cinemas entertaining and delighting Australian audiences..... Their last film was the astonishing FINISHED PEOPLE a 'reality feature' that played like a documentary, about discarded young people living in a depressed suburb in outer western Sydney who felt that a life of success wealth and happiness was not for them, eking out a street existence on social security. Usually films like this are grinding misery but as a debut feature from the 'can Dos' it was a remarkable and applauded experience. FOOTY LEGENDS is about some happier people across the road who want to create a football team and win a prize. No new story platform here, but remember we are in Bowery Boys or FULL MONTY territory on the sports field in Australia instead. Ken Loach makes dramas about these type of people (KES perhaps) but in Oz we make it a heartwarming comedy. In FOOTY LEGENDS, with an oddball group of tubby clumsy boofy and lame pals and with the encouragement of a car as a prize, they get their wobbly act together to focus on winning something for the first time in any of their lives. It is a funny suburban film, modest and almost Ealing in it's lack of pretensions. It isn't crude and offensive (like Little Man) and does not go for violence or humiliation as comedy (like a dumb Sandler farce such as The Waterboy) These guys have had that done to them off-screen and so have progressed to making something of their aimless suburban lives. The Do Boys are on the up and up in Oz and you are easily able to enjoy this new sports film with it's heart and funnybone being shoved and jostled for 90 minutes. Genuine sports stars appear and the drama is anchored by familiar screen actors Peter Phelps and Claudia Carvan. FOOTY LEGENDS is a good new Australian movie that actually hopes and provides you with a good time. After the moronics of the American films mentioned above, and the cretinous skid-marks of some urban Australian films so far this century (You And Your Stupid Mate, Liquid Bridge, The Wannabees and the vile Wolf Creek) it is the ethnic and indigenous members of our community who are making the progress: Ten Canoes and now FOOTY LEGENDS. Go Do Boys!