Brassed Off

Name: Brassed Off
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance, Music
Released: May 23, 1997
Duration: 107 min
Rating: 60
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald

1997

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Ratings

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8.0

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8.0	Your Score
8.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Miramax Films | Release Date: May 23, 1997 | R

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald

Summary: A story about two old friends -- and ex-lovers -- whose surprise reunion turns their lives, and the lives of everyone else in town, hilariously upside down! (Miramax)

Director: Mark Herman

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Romance, Music

Rating: R

Runtime: 107 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Stanley Kauffmann

Herman handled his script cleanly and cast the picture well. [09Jun1997 Pg 30]

Susan Wloszczyna

The pitch of the script, written by director Mark Herman, isn't perfect. But these earthy blokes are an engaging lot, the soot of the earth, with an admirably wry view of their bleak situations. [23May1997 Pg 03.D]

James Berardinelli

Brassed Off! is a traditional feel-good motion picture with an element of social commentary thrown in for good measure. Read full review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

There's a double meaning in the title of this folksy, relentlessly political, heavy-handed story, written and directed by Mark Herman and set among the coal mines of Yorkshire, England, in 1992. Read full review

Empire Ian Freer

However, writer-director Mark Herman never really achieves the correct balance between the serious and the feelgood, allowing an uneasy tone to prevail, while the small screen style and supporting cast of familiar TV faces suggests this would play more comfortably on the box. Read full review

Stephanie Zacharek

Herman isn't sure if he's doing a big-statement picture or a tiny treasure of a comedy, and his confusion throws Brassed Off off balance. Read full review

Manohla Dargis

Trimmed to an hour, and tucked between a documentary on snails and an episode of Coronation Street, writer-director Mark Herman's Brassed Off could prove lively watching indeed. As it is, however, his pedestrian if sweetly well-meaning inspirational about a coal-mining town done in by Thatcherism is too long, too laborious and 15 years too late. Read full review

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User Reviews

DawdlingPoet

Nov 25, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a drama film with comedy elements, with themes including mining, hope and solidarity.
I found the characters to be quite relatable - some of their banter being quite amusing at times. The film contains very much a 'them vs us' attitude in terms of the whole mining industry against the government. It had the feel of a Ken Loach style social commentary docu-drama, I felt. I liked that with it being set in rural Yorkshire, nearly all the characters had strong and realistic sounding yorkshire accents - my late maternal grandparents lived in Yorkshire, so I have happy memories of that 'neck of the woods'. The dialogue is relatively witty, there are some amusing and somewhat sharp one-liners - I think its fair to say that the characters are, generally, quite warm-hearted and up for a laugh.

Cast wise, the film stars Pete Postlethwaite as the bandleader, who comes across as a very passionate person, someone who cares deeply about the band continuing and maintaining their good reputation. Tara Fitzgerald plays Gloria, someone who appears from the start to be an outsider but who has more to her than first appears - the female characters are quite bolshy, which I liked. Other cast members include a young Ewan McGregor as one of the youngest band members, Andy and Stephen Tompkinson as Phil, plus Sue Jonhston as Vera and Jim Carter as Harry.

The film doesn't contain much in the way of music, aside from (obviously) the various live performances the band perform during the plot. I found it quite rousing in a way, with mostly quite cheery pieces played. I found myself humminh a few of the tunes during the scenes following them.

Content wise, the film contains some strong language, partial nudity and sexual innuendos, although no especially graphic sex references as such. There is some violence depicted, including self harm which could be distressing to some. Due to this, its been given a 15 rating.

I thought this was quite a good film, although it is undoubtedly sombre in parts. I found it quite watchable, amusing in parts and with some surprisingly touching moments.

Yes I'd recommend this film, as I felt there were some good characters depicted, it features a decent cast and the music is quite enjoyable. It is both relatively light hearted and amusing and also sombre and touching, in different scenes. Its a pretty good piece of social commentary about a time which hit the north of England hard and as such, I'd happily recommend it.… Expand

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