Hooligans--fanatical soccer fans who support their squads by shedding blood in the streets--don't get much press in this country. So, Green Street Hooligans deserves some credit for its bird's-eye view of the phenomenon. Fittingly, Lexi Alexander's feature debut is much like an act of hooliganism: full of exciting and immediate camerawork, visceral bone-crunching thrills and stout performances.
Too bad it's saddled with a predictable storyline and such feckless dialogue that you can't help but view the whole thing as an exercise in stupidity. Elijah Wood gamely sheds his fey image as a disgraced American student who falls in with the titular thugs and--seriously--learns some valuable lessons about using violence as a solution to life's problems. Er, okay? It's all mildly interesting, but ultimately this deserves a boot to the arse.