A Shot at Glory

While the accents may be Scottish and the sport may be called “football” (when stubborn American audiences know darn well it's soccer), A Shot at Glory will be perfectly familiar to fans of underdog sports movies such as Hoosiers or North Dallas Forty. Robert Duvall (effectively donning a Scottish burr) plays Gordon McLeod, the coach of second division squad Kilnockie, which gets the titular shot at glory--i.e., a chance of winning the Cup--with the arrival of a hotshot superstar (real-life soccer star Ally McCoist). Unfortunately, the stud footballer also has a wee bit of a problem with his temper and his boozing, jeopardizing the team's prospects against the Goliath of Scottish football, the Glasgow Rangers. Rhode Island-bred director Michael Corrente might seem an odd choice for this project, but he captures the bonny Scottish locales well and the soccer scenes are magnificent, thanks to the fact that the cast can actually play the game. While Duvall's accent is distracting at first, his thespian talents eventually score, and he's backed here by a solid cast that includes Michael Keaton as Kilnockie's American owner, Cole Hauser as a Dartmouth educated back-up goaltender, Brian Cox as the Rangers' manager, and the lovely Kirsty Mitchell as Duvall's daughter Kate. Recommended. (D. Fienberg)