Goal!

(Herald rating * * * )

This movie is predictable in much the same way as Ray - you know what will happen but you'll still go along with the emotional ride of one man's rise to fame.

Lead Kuno Becker, a soap star in his Mexican homeland, strikes the right balance of ambition and naivety as Santiago Munez, a promising soccer player living illegally in LA, although the fast-paced editing on the sportsfield suggests the actor didn't quite master his ball skills.

When a former talent scout (Stephen Dillane) tells Santiago he has the potential to make it into the Newcastle team, Santiago leaves his low-paid job and oppressive home life for the muddy fields and blustery coastlines of Britain.

It's not just the climate he has to get used to. There are team-mates who try his patience and court him into the seedy party scene; there's his German coach, modelled on Arsenal's manager Arsene Wenger, who always seems to be watching at the wrong moment; and there's team nurse Roz (Anna Friel), with whom he swiftly develops a relationship.

Ironically, the film's biggest flaw is its erratic plot - even though we know the bad bits are coming, problems are resolved at a faltering pace. There's something a little too convenient about the way Santiago attempts to find peace with his father, and the build-up about his health secret falls flat when the truth comes out.

With its multicultural cast, rousing Oasis soundtrack and diverse locations, Goal! feels as though it's trying to advertise the sport to the widest audience possible, so it's not surprising to learn that Fifa helped to back the film, or that director Danny Cannon captures the excitement of the matches by editing in snippets from actual games and hiring real players - including David Beckham - for cameos.

But if you don't mind your buttons being pushed, you'll learn to love football as much as they want you to.

CAST: Kuno Becker, Stephen Dillane, Anna Friel, Alessandro Nivola, Marcel Iures
DIRECTOR: Danny Cannon
RUNNING TIME: 118 minutes
RATING: PG