Is there a football event on at the moment? Just kidding, but seriously, not everyone is gripped by World Cup mania. What? It’s true. But don’t let a little thing like sport come between you and the person of your dreams…
We welcome back The Sloth, What Movie This Week resident film critic:
Sport can unite or divide couples. Perhaps on your first date you discover you support the same team – back of the net! Or perhaps you’ve been put off a Chelsea-lovers profile as you’re already thinking ‘football widow’. But relationships are about sharing and with a summer of high profile sporting action underway, I’ve found a selection of movies sport fans and non-fans alike can enjoy together.
Football 
Unless you’ve been living under a rock in the middle of the Amazonian rainforest, you will be aware a rather important football tournament has just got underway. Actually no. Our sources under a rock report England just lost 2:1 to Italy in the middle of the Amazonian rainforest, so nowhere is safe. Best join them then. Good football-themed movies are notoriously rare but Looking For Eric, out on DVD, is a gem from legendary director Ken Loach. Starring Eric Cantona, playing himself, as a philosphical life coach to a football fanatic postman, it’s both laugh out loud funny and genuinely touching.
Cycling 
Perhaps your date is a MAMIL? The 2014 Tour De France kicks off in the UK with Le Grand Départ in Leeds on 5 July, heading south to arrive in London on 7th July. Cycling, unfortunately, hasn’t always been as clean as it is today. Brush up on its recent, murky history with The Armstrong Lie, out now on DVD, a fascinating and disturbing documentary with direct access to Lance Armstrong both before and after his infamous fall from grace. You’ll find it hard to believe how far corruption in sport can spread. Sobering.
Tennis
Wimbledon is almost upon us so equipe yourselves with strawberries, cream and The Battle Of The Sexes, out on DVD. Covering the most watched tennis match of all time between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, it touches on women’s lib in the 1960’s and 70’s and the formation of the World Tennis Association, mixing archive footage with present day interviews from Billy Jean, Chris Evert and the Williams sisters. Plenty of food for thought to get the date chatter flowing!
Cricket 
Prefer the thwack of willow on leather? England square up to India for a test series at Lords in July. Tickets may be like gold dust but you can treat your date to some atmosphere with Million Dollar Arm. Based on a true story, it recounts how a failing baseball agent set up an X-Factor style competition to turn young Indian cricketers into baseball pitchers. Properly feel-good and starring Jon ‘Don Draper’ Hamm, you and your date can’t fail to enjoy it. Coming to UK cinemas on 29 August.
Golf
UK golf’s biggest fixture, The Open, starts 13 July. Whilst you may not share your date’s fascination with thwacking a small ball with a long stick we’re betting you have some love for Seve Ballesterous, arguably golf’s most charismatic player, who tragically died in 2011. His memory is honoured with Seve, coming to UK cinemas on 27 June. Taking a biographical approach, it mixes found footage and dramatic recreations to tell the rags to riches story of the world’s number one player.
So there you have it. What Movie This Week hope our tips will take your relationship through to the next round. Game, set and love match.
For further recommendations of top films on general release please visit: whatmoviethisweek
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