Managing to be neither funny nor insightful, British comedy drama Things To Do Before You're 30 will only remind you that you have better things to do with your time. Dougray Scott and Jimi Mistry are among a group of old friends who meet at weekends to play football and shirk their adult responsibilities. Apparently director Simon Shore is aiming at a sport-nut version of Barry Levinson's Diner (1982), but frankly the end result is a lot of balls.
Scott plays a womaniser unable to commit to his pregnant girlfriend (Emilia Fox), Mistry is a musician in conflict with his wealthy dad, Danny Nussbaum fears his father is dying and Bruce MacKinnon is desperate to have a threesome. On the periphery, Shaun Parkes plays a closeted gay and Roger Morlidge struggles to make his marriage work. The problem isn't that their lives are so mundane (which they are) but that Shore fails to handle their personal quandaries with any depth.
"MOMENTS OF STALE SILENCE"
Furthermore it's a mystery why these blokes spend so much time together since all they do is mope around and snap at each other. A lack of chemistry between the actors is highlighted by moments of stale silence and when they do speak, the dialogue is bland. Every attempt at comedy falls flat, including MacKinnon's increasingly tedious obsession with three-way sex, while the women are cast as either nags or sluts. For those who really love their footie, there's not even much of that to excite the senses. In short it's as dull as a wet Sunday afternoon.