Green Street Hooligans (Warner, 2006)

Taking the fall for an unscrupulous roommate from a distinguished family, Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) gets booted from Harvard on charges of dealing drugs. In exchange for the expulsion, the spared yuppie-to-be offers him $10,000 in hush money and a job promise. Seeking family ties, Matt travels to England to reside with his sister Shannon (Claire Forlani), her husband Steve (Marc Warren), and their new baby. Barely unpacked, the Yank is introduced to Pete Dunham (Charlie Hunnam) -- Steve's younger brother and the leader of a rabid football (AKA soccer, to clueless 'Mericans) fan organization known as the Green Street Elite. Not wanting to spoil the couple's planned evening of romance, Matt agrees to his brother-in-law's suggestion of attending a home match (West Ham Hammers) with Pete. The seasoned partisan sours on the idea, for the only people worse than Yanks to GSE insiders are "coppers" and "journers". Reluctantly, Pete relents after sparring with Matt and giving him some verbal pointers. While knocking back pints in the pub, a story circulates about Matt's involvement in "The Karate Kid." The fib elicits jolly laughter amongst the drunken GSE majority, but Bovver (Leo Gregory) -- Pete's right-hand man -- looks upon the newbie with tremendous contempt. Post-match activities find Matt's first taste of tangling with a rival group, as he imagines the punches landing squarely on his ex-roommate's face. Final round in the books, Pete explains the GSE's M.O. with a dignified air and how the firm "ain't about Bloods and Crips bullshit." Now quartered together, Matt is stunned to learn of his new pal's day gig as a history and P.E. teacher. The "easily-bruised American" puts his own education to good use during a sneak attack on followers of Manchester. "Borrowing" a delivery truck, Matt convinces the assemblage that a Cameron Diaz picture is scheduled for filming in the area. With permission to pass, the GSE catch their foes in a clever trap and beat them to a bloody pulp. News of the melee travels faster than Lady Di's passing, and Matt is uniformly welcomed into the fold of London's most-respected firm. As West Ham draws its arch nemesis Millwall in an upcoming tourney, several GSE long-standers spot the rookie sensation at the London Times. Via the discovery of a tell-all diary on his laptop and Shannon's slip-up to Steve regarding her brother's major in college (journalism, of course), the possibility of Matt as an "undercover journer" gains more legs. Intending to protect his brother-in-law from bodily harm, Steve -- the former GSE head -- himself becomes a victim when Millwall's firm crashes Pete and the boys' favorite watering hole. Ten years ago, Tommy Hatcher (Geoff Bell) -- Millwall's top dog -- lost his 12-year-old son amid a skirmish with the adversaries. Despite Steve not being directly responsible for the child's death, Tommy avenges the tragedy by deeply cutting him in the neck and intoning, "If you die, we're even." It's Pete's duty to mobilize the GSE troops for the "War At The Wharf" versus Millwall. Will Matt be vindicated
in time to join their ranks?