Fran: The Man – Ireland – 2025 – Comedy, Sports, Mockumentary
Directed by: Stephen Bradley
Written by: Richie Conroy
Main Players: Darragh Humphreys; Ardal O’Hanlon; Eddie Marsan; Amy Huberman; Risteard Cooper; Toni O’Rourke; Dierdre O’Kane
Presented via a “documentary” group who follows the team, Fran: The Man tells the story of Assistant Manager Fran Costello (Humphreys) and his small Irish football club, Saint Peter’s Celtic, in Dublin. The jokes start flying immediately, and the fun mostly remains through the entire short runtime. The experience is fun, regardless for those that know anything about football/soccer.
Opening with a quick lottery to draw teams together, Fran’s team had qualified for the FAI Cup (Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup) for the first time in history. The lottery for the cup is performed, as teams are assigned numbers, and respective balls are drawn from a bowl to pair up matches. The excellent Shamrock Rovers wind up matching with Fran’s amateur squad, unlucky ball number 13. A Dublin Darby is anticipated!
Fran blows up at the televised event however, claiming his ball was fingered. This sends him viral, for all the wrong reasons. This brings out a documentary crew led by Dympna Greene (O’Kane), showing interest in the little team. But that is not where the story ends, as all roads lead to corruption!
Events take a turn into an illegal match-fixing saga as money and expectations start flying based on the two paired teams. Into the show walk Detectives Gerry Nolan (Cooper) and Naomi Clancy (O’Rourke), looking into the devious behavior of illicit gambling and illegal game performances.
As Saint Peter’s Celtic ready for the match, an expectation arises that the game will finish 5-0, with the Rovers on top. There was a huge spike in bets from all around the globe. As gambling erodes the integrity of the sport, this rubs Fran the wrong way, especially since it affects his community.
Fran looks to help expose the illegal gambling activities and restore the order to the beautiful game of football, all while keeping the community happy and intertwined. He builds his team unconventionally, looking for players to boost the team. Will Fran be able to boost his team’s performance, and how will the gambling fixes affect play? Will he go along with the police’s ideas to stop the illegal activities?
Fran: The Man is a short and fun comedy told through interviews, and documentary style scenes. It is a harmless and fun time, featuring good characters and an interesting community culture.
I believe this follows a short comedy series “Fran” which ran from 2009-2011, however I know nothing about that show.
See This If You Liked:
The Damned United; The Beautiful Game; The Cup (1999); Mean Machine; Shaolin Soccer (Siu Lam Juk Kau); Best in Show; Waiting for Guffman; This is Spinal Tap
Score:
6.5