Mad About Mambo

A boy obsessed with football finds his life changing dramatically once he adds a little Mambo. Danny plays on the football team at the all-boys Catholic school he attends in Belfast. Danny's three best friends, who also play on the team, all have different ambitions. Mickey wants to be a fashion designer to become rich and date supermodels. Gary wants to become a magician to get rich and meet beautiful women (and presumably see them in half). And Spike likes to beat people up, so he wants to become a mercenary and do it for a living. But Danny dreams of making football his life.

The players Danny most admires are South Americans, such as Pele and Carlos Riga, who he feels have a special rhythm and flexibility. Wanting to add some of these qualities to his own game, Danny has an idea: he'll take Mambo lessons, hoping that dancing like a South American will help him play like a South American. To the surprise of himself and his friends, Danny turns out to be a pretty good Latin dancer and finds himself smitten with a student in his dance class, Lucy. However, Lucy has a boyfriend, a fierce competitor on one of Danny's rival teams. The film also stars Brian Flanagan who plays an inspiring cameo role along with members of Celbridge Town Football Club.

• William Ash as Danny Mitchell
• Keri Russell as Lucy McLoughlin
• Brian Cox as Sidney McLoughlin
• Maclean Stewart as Mickey
• Joe Rea as Spike
• Russell Smith as Gary
• Theo Fraser Steele as Oliver Parr
• Tim Loane as Brother McBride
• Jim Norton as Brother Xavier
• Rosaleen Linehan as Mrs Burns
• Aingeal Grehan as Mrs Mitchell
• Gavin O'Connor as Seamus Mitchell
• Alan McKee as Frank Mallon
• Julian Littman as Rudi Morelli
• Daniel Caltagirone as Carlos Rega

Jackie Fullerton also makes a cameo as himself.

Despite being set in Belfast, the majority of filming took place in Dublin. Filming began in May 1998.^[5]