The Italian comedy-drama film Fantasy Football Ruined Our Lives is definitely meant for soccer fans, especially those invested in fantasy football, as the title already suggests! As someone who is not familiar with the football scene, the film is not impossible to comprehend, but is it fun to watch? Continue reading to find out!
At the core of the film is a group of friends; they shared an eternal love for football and were passionately devoted to fantasy football. They believed that the league helped them feel hopeful, and it was a world that they could escape to easily. Fantasy Football Ruined Our Lives takes a close look at the world of these obsessive individuals who dedicated hours of their lives to closely analyzing the sport and performing detailed research in the hopes of winning the championship trophy one day.
Gianni’s wedding day was also the deadline for him to submit his football team, and when he didn’t show up, his friends were concerned, not just because he was absent from his own wedding, but also because he was at risk of losing the league. Gianni was the reigning champion, so his absence was unexpected. Things took a turn for the worse when cops showed up at the wedding venue, and they arrested Gianni’s friends, Simone, Federico, Nicola, Jacopo, and Francesco. After the cops discovered Gianni and Simone’s blood at the spot where they’d held Gianni’s bachelor’s party, they’d assumed that he was the one who had murdered his best friend. While interrogating Gianni’s friends, the judge realized how deeply the lives of the players were intertwined with the sport. As Simone had stated, the players lived their lives exactly how they played the game. They all had patterns, and some of them bet on predictability over risk-taking.
To understand what caused Gianni’s death/disappearance, it was important to grasp how the group of friends functioned in their daily lives and how certain recent developments had left an impact on them. Gianni’s childhood friend, Simone, was the primary suspect, so naturally he plays a decisive role in the film. Since Gianni was absent from the current timeline, his friends, almost like pieces of a puzzle, came together to build an image of Gianni for the judge as well as the audience. An interesting way to introduce the audience to a character using only the memories of his friends. To find out if Gianni was dead or alive, you have to watch the film on Netflix!
Fantasy Football Ruined Our Lives is a mishmash of all the genres you can think of—romance, drama, comedy, mystery, bromance, and sports! It could’ve been quite a disaster, but director Alessio Maria Federici manages to bring it all together. The film is a comedy through and through, so even though we’ve a mystery unfolding, nothing ever gets too serious. The light-hearted approach helps in just going with the flow instead of getting a little too stuck with how realistically the disappearance case was solved. Sports banter is crucial in the film, so naturally if you know the players they repeatedly mention, then you’ll resonate all the more with the characters. Clearly, the inside jokes were cracked keeping in mind the fans of fantasy football, so several conversations didn’t feel relatable to me, and that took away the fun to an extent. But thankfully the film does not delve too much into technicalities. The character of the judge (who, just like some in the audience (read me), barely had any idea about fantasy football) gets a rough rundown on the game, and naturally the audience gets educated as well. This helps in keeping the film entertaining, and one can easily focus on the mystery comedy drama with a pinch of romance that unfolds on screen.
I’m glad that the film also addressed the traditional notion that fantasy games only intrigue men, pretty similar to the assumption when it comes to sports. So, when Andrea showed up, the all-men league team didn’t know how to react. The film captures how stuck-up men tend to be—that they would rather choose a psychopath to join their team than a woman. It could’ve been problematic if the team had actually gone with the psychopath, but the fact that they finally recognized Andrea’s passion for the sport thankfully passes on the right message. Andrea eventually becomes a core member of the team and does not end up being stereotypically labelled a vamp, which was also a relief to watch! The character, Andrea, had a lot of potential that remained unexplored. The romantic angle in the film also felt a little abrupt, even though it’s crucial to the characters and the overall plot. The ending felt rushed—the film chose not to delve too deep into the conflicts, and even the resolution seemed quite hurried.
Thematically, the film failed to deliver something concrete. The idea was to establish how escaping into a made-up world wasn’t really the solution to all of life’s problems, but the delivery lacked a strong impact. The focus was evidently on keeping it lighthearted, but without a driving force, you end up not feeling anything at all by the time the film comes to an end. Even as a buddy film, Fantasy Football Ruined Our Lives doesn’t really dig deep into the characters to make them or the friendship they shared memorable. The overall performance of the cast was pretty solid. Giacomo Ferrara’s portrayal of Simone was thoroughly convincing. Silvia D’Amico brought a lively and engaging presence to the role of Andrea, and she was a delight to watch on screen. Enrico Borello captured the complexity of Gianni’s character quite aptly.
To wrap up, Fantasy Football Ruined Our Lives might just be a fun watch for fantasy football players, because the characters spend a lot of time discussing the game, so naturally if you’re well-versed with it, you will find it enjoyable. Considering ‘fantasy football’ is mentioned in the title, it’s pretty obvious that the filmmaker had a very particular target audience in mind. But if you’re not into it, then you might at times feel a little lost. As a comedy drama, the film is quite average, and there are way better buddy dramas available online if that’s what you’re looking for.
