When you work as much as Peter Morgan does and almost exclusively in the UK, you’re bound to work the same people on a semi regular basis but I find it interesting that Michael Sheen, himself brilliant and hard working character actor, has worked with Morgan on a number of occasions. It’s safe to assume that Sheen must love Morgan’s work and really, when a writer gives you such brilliant dialog, what’s not to like?

For their most recent collaboration, Morgan adapted David Peace’s 2006 fictionalized account of Brian Clough’s 44 days as manager of Leeds United football club in 1974. The Damned United is directed by yet another Morgan collaborator director Tom Hooper, and stars Sheen as Clough, the very vocal and charismatic manager, a success story who built a club from the bottom of the Second Division into the First and though the film concentrates a great deal on Clough’s time with Leeds, it doesn’t ignore how he got there.

No underdog story would be complete without a worthy adversary and the exiting Leeds manager Don Revie is as good as they come. Though the film focuses little on Revie, Colm Meaney does a commendable job of making every little scene count and you can almost see the hate and animosity the two shared for each other. Along for the riede are Jim Broadbent who plays up the role of Uncle Sam and Timothy Spall who beautifully captures Peter Taylor, the man and friend behind Clough.

This is an underdog story. One of success and failure and though the film is more concerned with the downfall of an icon, it ends, as one would expect, on a positive note. It’s not cutting edge filmmaking but The Damned United sports another brilliant performance from Sheen (from here on out known as The Chameleon) a load of fantastic supporting ones and a story that is both full of drama and laughs. This is what one would call high-class fluffy entertainment.

See VIFF screening schedule for show times.