Cinema - Sixty Six

The plotline for Sixty Six, a film by the makers of Billy Elliot and About a Boy, is brilliant. There’s this Jewish kid, coming up to Bah Mitzvah age. He’s the sort of kid who gets picked last for the school kickaround. Nobody notices him. His family go on a daytrip to Brighton and they don’t realise he’s not in the car till they get halfway back home. So his Bah Mitzvah takes on significant importance to him. Suddenly, for once in his life, he will be the centre of attention. Everybody will be there for his big day, the whole of the family, all of his friends. The date his family set? July 30th, 1966. Football fans will know the significance of this date - the World Cup Final, at Wembley, against the Germans. At first it doesn’t seem important. The Jewish community isn’t that football mad. And England won’ get to the final anyway. Then, as World Cup fever mounts, all the guests start pulling out. Even the caterers can’t do it. Disaster looms. Until the kid’s father hatches a plot to save the day…

Greg Sulkin plays Bernie, the Bah Mitzvah boy, the cast includes stalwarts like Helena Bonham Carter and Stephen Rea. Critics haven’t gone mad over the film; the most common adjective used to describe it is ‘likeable’. You know what they say about faint praise, granted, but any film with a blow football scene in it has to be worth giving a bash. DL