More people attended the first screening of The Passion of St Tibulus on Craggy Island than the US premiere of the new FIFA movie.
Fifa’s shiny new self-funded movie “United Passions” looks like it’s going to go down like a lead balloon in the States.
The film was made to tell the “massively interesting” story of the association’s 110 year history. However, as Daina Beth Solomon of Reuturs pointed out, that tale has yet to grasp the attention of the American cinema goer.
At the first screening of FIFA-funded film “United Passions” in Los Angeles the week after U.S. prosecutors charged several officials of world soccer’s governing body, only two people attended – one out of curiosity, the other as a soccer fan.
The French film stars British actor Tim Roth as FIFA president Sepp Blatter, and had an estimated budget of €24 million, which FIFA officials claim the provided about €20 million.
Even if it’s not a box office smash hit, maybe it will at least receive critical acclaim, right?
Wrong. New York Times reviewer Daniel M. Gold called it “one of the most unwatchable films in recent memory, a dishonest bit of corporate-suite sanitizing that’s no good even for laughs.” The Guardian’s Jordan Hoffman wnet with a slightly different angle, labeling the flick “a disgrace” and “excrement.”
Can being described as disgraceful excrement be considered a positive thing? The Fifa spin doctors will have to work overtime to try and spin these reviews in a good light.
Hat-tip to Reuters
