Last night, in a bid to cheer myself up, I went to a friend’s to watch a DVD. I had recently been sent a care package from a friend at Icon, and had a number of good films to choose from. Looking for Eric looked like the most uplifting, so we watched it.

Ok, so the package has lots of pictures of people smiling and lot of quotes like “The feelgood movie of the year”. But make no mistake, my friends, this movie is very very depressing. It’s about a man in Manchester who lives with his two stepsons because his second wife left him and abandoned them. His eldest stepson is involved with a local thug and is getting himself in way over his head. The younger stepson is obsessed with porn and music videos full of guns and violence. Meanwhile, our Eric is still in love with his first wife, who he left twenty years ago. He is also obsessed with footballer Eric Cantona who, on night while smoking a joint, he starts to see in his bedorom and chat with.

Yes, eventually things get better, and yes, there are some laughs, but this was a ‘Broken Britain’ movie if ever I saw one. The way that Eric and his stepsons rid themselves of the gangsters is funny, but also really awful!

Still, it is a good movie, even if NOT AT ALL what is being sold on the tin. Seriously, all of the smiling images from the back cover are from the last 5 minutes of the film (literally).  I guess they thought it wouldn’t sell if they didn’t position it as an upbeat, The Fully Monty, kind of film?

Looking for Eric