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Soccer punch from Elijah Wood

Elijah Wood jettisons his hobbit-y ways and becomes a steel-toed, head-bashing thug in Green Street Hooligans, a silly melodrama about friendship and football (the European kind).Ejected from Harvard on a bum drug rap, journo-major Matt Buckner (Wood) heads to London, where his sister (Claire Forlani, looking forlorn-y) lives with an English lout. The lout's brother is even more loutish - the ringleader of a gang of rabid soccer fans who go around beating up anyone who isn't allied with their team. Matt, being an instinctive investigative reporter, but also a suddenly angry college dropout, insinuates himself into the inner circle of this group, and before he knows it he's fueling up on pints and raining down violence in the street.

    by Steven Rea, INQUIRER MOVIE CRITIC
    Published 

Elijah Wood jettisons his hobbit-y ways and becomes a steel-toed, head-bashing thug in Green Street Hooligans, a silly melodrama about friendship and football (the European kind).

Ejected from Harvard on a bum drug rap, journo-major Matt Buckner (Wood) heads to London, where his sister (Claire Forlani, looking forlorn-y) lives with an English lout. The lout's brother is even more loutish - the ringleader of a gang of rabid soccer fans who go around beating up anyone who isn't allied with their team. Matt, being an instinctive investigative reporter, but also a suddenly angry college dropout, insinuates himself into the inner circle of this group, and before he knows it he's fueling up on pints and raining down violence in the street.

Saucer-eyed Wood brings a certain nostril-flaring zeal to the proceedings, but the script is a jumble of caricatures and cliches. There's one great soccer match sequence, though.

Contact movie critic Steven Rea

at 215-854-5629 or srea@phillynews.com.

Green Street Hooligans

** (out of four stars)

Directed by Lexi Alexander, written by Alexander, Dougie Brimson

and Josh Shelov. With Elijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam and Claire Forlani.

Running time: 1 hour, 49 mins.

Parent's guide: R (violence, profanity)

Playing at: Loews Cherry Hill, AMC Neshaminy, and Regal Cinemas Marketplace 24