The RefereeMovies like The Referee
- Key Features:
- Soccer, Sports comedy, Small town, Ambition
- Tone:
- humorous, satirical
- Target Audience:
- Sports fans, Comedy lovers, Italian cinema enthusiasts
- Emotional Arc:
- Anticipation → Frustration
The Referee

An ambitious soccer referee ends up handling a crucial match between two small Sardinian teams
The Referee
Two soccer stories: Alvaro Presutti is a referee who seems to be the last to know about his wife having an affair with a German soccer star. Amedeo Amedei has to please both his father, a die hard Roma supporter and his future father in law, who supports Lazio.

One football match on a dirt pitch near Rome becomes a day of reckoning as a young player, his coach and their team's owner wrestle internal demons.

Two men must struggle to travel to Prague for Champions League Football Final match.

Soccer is an alien world for Walter Vismara, an unfamiliar terrain he's always avoided. But when his job hangs in the balance, he's thrust into the role of goalkeeper by his soccer-obsessed boss. Forced into a relentless routine of practice sessions and taunts, Walter finds himself trapped in a nightmare. His troubles escalate when he discovers his beloved in the arms of his archenemy, adding a personal dimension to his challenges. Determined to prove his worth, Walter devises a plan: to play the fool outwardly while secretly honing his skills. As he navigates this comedic yet challenging journey on the soccer field, will Walter emerge victorious and finally earn the respect he deserves?

Christian is an extremely talented as well as unpredictable football player. After his latest screw-up, the president of his team decides to assign him a personal tutor, to help him in controlling his temper. Valerio is a shy and solitary professor, the exact opposite of the champion. Sparks will fly between the two at first, but soon their relationship will change both for the better.

Oronzo Canà is called to coach Longobarda, the football team of a small town of Northern Italy, newly promoted to the First Division. His only task is not to be relegated, but Longobarda's owner plots against him, finding the team's current ranking far too expensive, and his top Brazilian striker is affected by a deep saudade.

Diego Abatantuono in the shoes of three huge fans: the Juventus truck driver Tirzan, the head of the ultra Milanese Donato and the Franco inter.

Contemporary Russia. After he flubs a penalty kick, a humiliated national soccer player quits the game. He flees to a small town, where he decides to coach their local team.

Benito Fornaciari, a pale, devoutly Catholic, Upper Middleclass Italian inherits a minor-league football club from a long-lost uncle. He decides to visit the club to sell it, but the local population has other ideas: through an almost-armed uprising they "force" him not to sell the club but lead it to other glories on the football field.

Inspired by true events from the spring of 1944 when the Nazis organized a football match between a team of camp inmates and an elite Nazi team on Adolf Hitler's birthday. A match the prisoners are determined to win, no matter what happens.

The "Bulldozer", a former football star, is now working as a fisherman. As a group of street-people arranges a football match against the local Armybase, he is asked to be their trainer. His boat was damaged by a submarine and he currently has no work, so he agrees.

In Palmi, a small town in Calabria, Don Vincenzo, a genial retired farmer, has a crazy idea to revive the local soccer team by organizing a bizarre fundraiser hiring the Italian major league Serie A, soccer player Etienne Morville, a bad-tempered guy but among the strongest in the world. Albeit unwillingly, Morville leaves Milan to move to Palmi and try to save his image. In the small town he will come up against a reality of sincerity, which will lead everyone on an unforgettable experience.

A young priest coaches a team of uncoordinated monks in order to win a soccer tournament and save their monastery from being turned into a hotel.

After its football team is disqualified for insulting a referee during a major game, a small country town risks losing its funding along with its field. To avoid this disaster, there is only one solution: creating a new team made up exclusively of women to defend the city’s colors! But in a community where football has always been an activity reserved for men, these women’s new status will be sure to shake up the daily lives of the town’s residents…

In Pietrasanta all are excited for the annual party of summer end. Here we find four characters: Merigo, a naive guy passionate of bike; Pierre, son of the mayor; Simone, a pestiferous kid; Mario, lifeguard of "Bagnomaria".

Sami works in a children's home which is set to be closed. The young man is an enthusiastic stadium usher and has convinced the president of the Olympique de Marseille football club to help them keep it open.

An aimless college graduate jumping from one job interview to another — killing time in between with his wisecracking and deadbeat room-mate — falls in love with an actress.

An unemployed man gets a job as traffic policeman but the traffic in the big city creates innumerous problems for the poor guy.

Two deadbeat friends barely pass the entrance exam for the Carabinieri, the national gendarmerie of Italy, but love for the same woman gets in the way.

In a small town in Anatolia, whose inhabitants possess various supernatural powers but still have to deal with ordinary problems, Cemal helps out in his father’s barbershop and, in his free time, acts as a football referee.

The tomboyish, outgoing Julieta is the daughter of a member of the Palmeiras soccer club board. She is constantly frustrated by what she sees as institutional bias against women in soccer. One day while watching her beloved Palmeiras, she is struck by a handsome man, Romeu, that she sees rooting for the Palmeiras' chief rivals, the Corinthians. After meeting the same man again in the middle of eye exam, Julieta and Romeu quickly become a couple. However, in order to avoid incurring the wrath of her parents, Romeu is forced to pretend to be an adoring Palmeiras fan, an increasingly difficult task for the die-hard Corinthiano.

Inside Bar Sport, a bar on the outskirts of Bologna managed by the histrionic Onassis, the adventures of regulars and casual patrons unfold. Searching for a pinball machine or a payphone, they encounter the omnipresent "technician," so called for his passion for soccer and always ready to chat or moderate other people's discussions. Thus, the ordeals of the handyman Bovinelli as he deals with the disasters at Muzzi's house, the diary of a provincial playboy's conquests, the sex life of the fiery prostitute Elvira, the search for a good restaurant during a dazed motorcycle trip with Cocosecco, or a trip to see Bologna play with the lawyer Della Lana become epic tales of tragicomic exploits.

The relationships between a veteran marshal, his bride-to-be, a rookie and his fiancée are severely tested when the young carabiniere is temporarily sent to a distant town.

For the Olympique de Paris soccer team, this away match scheduled against Caplongue was merely supposed to be one last chore before the end of the professional season. Yet no one could ever have imagined that an unknown rabies-like infection was going to spread like wildfire, turning this small town’s inhabitants into ultra-violent and highly contagious creatures.

Police officer Jorge Capitão is a competent BOP captain and a Brazilian idol. But after he saved Argentina's greatest ace from a kidnapping, on the eve of the World Cup, he ended up becoming the nation's number 1 public enemy. Expelled from the corporation and discredited by the people, Captain must relearn how to work as a team to avoid an attempt on the Pope in the final of the tournament. That's when the sex shop manager Bia Alpinistinha, a medium and her very crazy mother, enters the scene.

The "Brigatte Veneno" is a fan group from the soccer club "AS Roma". The next match is against "Juventus Turin", the classic prestige duel. Principe, the former leader of the group, has been dismissed from jail a few days before. He has to realize that his best friend Red has not only taken over control of the group, but also has started an affair with his girlfriend. The rivalry between the hot-blooded Principe and the sensible Red causes an anxious mood within the group. When Smilzo, a member of the group, dies during a street fight with another fan group, Red knows that Principe is to be blamed for this catastrophe.

In a village of the Po valley where the earth is hard and life miserly, the priest and the communist mayor are always fighting to be the head of the community. If in secret, they admired and liked each other, politics still divided them as it is dividing the country. And when the mayor wants his "People's House"; the priest wants his "Garden City" for the poor. Division exist between the richest and the poorest, the pious and the atheists and even between lovers. But if the people are hard as the country, they are good in the bottom of there heart.

An aging soccer fanatic faces down the reality of his past while struggling to give himself and a young follower very different futures.

In many small episodes, various characters represent the typical vices and comedy of Italian society in early 2000.

Missing the train is very bad. Seeing it leave with your children and those of your friends you had to accompany on vacation is a whole other story ... that of the crazy pursuit from Turin to Sicily of a father and grandfather as different as they are unreliable.

Alberto, post office manager of a small town in Brianza, under pressure of his wife Sylvia, is willing to do anything to get the transfer to Milan. Even pretending to be disabled to climb in the ranking. But the trick does not work and as punishment, he is transferred in a small town in Campania, which to an inhabitant of the north is equivalent to a nightmare ...

Ugo Fantozzi has been ejected from Heaven and is sent back to Earth for a short period of time until the staff in Heaven can get Fantozzi a place there. Fantozzi goes through a variety of unfortunate experiences, such as rescuing his retro punk granddaughter Uga, and having to pay a vast telephone bill due to frequent chat line conversations. He ends up getting arrested instead of his ex-boss, who was originally charged with corruption. Just as he is about to enjoy the World Cup Final with Italy, he is called back into Heaven. Can he find peace once again?

Two quarreling teachers vie for the same woman. In the same time the two will have to accompany a class on a trip in Spain.

A small Sicilian town elects a new, honest major but quickly learns that playing by the rules is not as easy as it seems.

A Sardinian fisherman has promised the moon to the woman he loves. And Sardinian men always keep their promises.

Don Camillo (now bishop) and Peppone (now senator) return to the town of Brescello and rekindle their friendly rivalry.

Mario Moreno portrays a professor in this movie. A small town in the middle of no where requests the school Mario Moreno is working in for a teacher. He ends up going to give the town a hand. When he arrives he comes to know the corrupt leaders who through out the movie try to make him leave. Although he is being harassed you can see how much he cares for the kids and their circumstances. He deals with problems by using his hilarious comments.

Two young gay soccer players get caught up between the politics of the game and the politics of love.

Sadoun is France’s best soccer player whose extra-curriculum pleasures are damaging his play and new contract negotiations. Dispatched by his scheming agent to his home village, he ends up reconciling with his father, relating to his fatherless niece, who dotes on him, and training his local children’s team, whom he takes to championship glory.

Nicola, a policeman in Puglia, is a reformed ladies' man with his heart set on marrying the daughter of the Indian ambassador.

Bruceuilis, a policeman from the countryside, is assigned to rescue Celestina, a goat considered heritage of his small city, and travels to São Paulo. There, he meets police clerk Trindade, who decides to venture out into the field, even though it is not his specialty.

Going through his daily routine in a stereotypical neighborhood, a street cleaner falls in love with a charwoman. Unfortunately for him, so does his superior officer.

Now in the Far North (i.e. Milan!), Alberto has accepted to manage a program for efficiency improvement in the Italian Post. He devotes all his time and all his energy to this noble task and neglects his wife Silvia, which of course annoys her beyond limits. Things do not fare much better in Castellabate where it is rather Maria, Matta's wife, who gets on his nerves by always blaming him for his lack of ambition. One day, due to a misunderstanding, Mattia is transferred to... Milan! And on whose doorstep does he land? Alberto's of course!

An undertaker gets married to an old executioner's daughter and, although he doesn't like it, must continue the profession of his father-in-law after his retirement.

Some Say No is a new Italian comedy with a very serious subject: the way the country's society is corroded by favoritism that pushes inferior people to the top in virtually every field. In Florence, three thirty-somethings band together to wage their own war on the system. Each of them is a person of talent who has been pushed out by "favorites" or raccomandati, people who have muscled in on the promotions they ought to have gotten by pulling strings.

Four waiters and a cook working at a seaside restaurant hate one another but still keep working together for lack of better opportunities.

In the barracks of the "Settecamini" fire brigade in Rome, the shabby Squadra 17 tackles missions with resounding failures, waiting in vain for a chance for redemption.

During the 2006 World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain, numerous young women are caught and rounded up for dressing as men so they could gain access to the game. Guarded by several soldiers in a holding pen, the women attempt to keep updated on the score.

When a judge shuts down a high profile cheese factory for violating pollution standards, the owner bribes a monsignor to fix the problem. After they discover the judge has a predilection for married women, the owner employs a prostitute to pose as his wife in an attempt to seduce the judge.

In a depressed Texas town, British foreign exchange teacher Anna attempts to inject some life into her hopeless kids by introducing them to soccer. They're terrible at first, but Anna and her football-hero assistant whip them into shape. As they work overtime, the pair help kids build their self-esteem and also get involved in solving family squabbles.

A former footballer living in Brittany enlists his old teammates to help the local fisherman to win some games in order to raise money and save jobs.

During a hot Sunday afternoon in a small Southern Italian town, a school serving as a polling place is occupied by a group of three locals and an Eritrean immigrant, all unemployed, desperate and armed.

A story about one team that decides to follow a dream that takes them on a journey to the First World Football Championship in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1930. A dream that allows them to become true stars and living legends.

After England's football (soccer) manager has a heart attack, Mike Bassett is hired as the new manager and promptly announces the team will win the World Cup.

An obscure Italian magistrate suspects that a well-known industrialist commited murder, and decides to investigate him, and bring him to court, whatever it takes. But - will the magistrate have it in him to go against impossible odds, in the name of the Italian people he represents?

A young fashion blogger and an aspiring songwriter seem to have not that much in common, but when Cupid’s arrow hits them, every difference fades away and overnight they decide to get married. Even their fathers do not have anything in common: Gaetano is a strict mayor from Southern Italy, while Diego is a rich entrepreneur from the North. Between the two forthcoming in-laws, instead, is hate at first sight. They seem to agree on one single common goal: prevent this marriage at any cost! After fighting by any means in a struggle that will also involve their two bizarre families, will they manage to say no to the wedding?

Island farmer Banana Joe helps the local community by trading his bananas for goods. When gangsters arrive with plans to construct a banana processing plant, Joe kicks them out, but the mob boss discovers that Joe is operating without a license. After the mob tips off the authorities and Joe's boat is impounded, he ventures into a big city for the first time to seek help.

Police commissioner Lo Gatto is in charge of the local Italian police station within Vatican State. During an investigation, following the murder of a Vatican priest, he decides to question the Pope! For this reason Lo Gatto is sent to a Sicilian remote island Favignana. There is very little for the commissioner to do on the quiet island, so Lo Gatto decides to investigate the vanishing of a tourist which quickly becomes a very complicated affair.

Funny, entertaining comedy with a few storylines. All of them have one thing in common - a resort town of Rimini in Italy.

The vicissitudes of three couples of newlyweds from the celebration of weddings to their respective honeymoons.

A Milanese businessman is beside himself when his son tells him he's going to marry the daughter of a pizza maker from Naples.

Corrupt and sleazy entrepreneur Cetto La Qualunque comes back to Italy and "jumps into politics" lest his law-abiding opponent, Giovanni De Santis, is elected as mayor.

Lino lives in Turin with the family of his sister. He doesn't have a good job and never enough money. But in a day his life changes: he wins 1 billion dollars in a lottery and... everyone becomes a friend, the girl who he liked becomes his girlfriend and his sister begins to love him. He leaves Turin with his friend Parola and, in a casino, he loses all money! But luck returns...

Two rival "brothers-in-law" make a bet that they can stop smoking for 2 weeks. But, it's just not that easy...

The school year is over and for a diverse group of carefree kids, soccer is king! These kids believe that they are the local gold team and there is nothing they like more than improving their game. "If you want to be cool, you should be wild." However, the relentless rain turns their field into a swamp, so they have to take an unexpected break. And when the sun finally comes, a gang of older, bigger and dumber boys has just taken over the field. They won't give it back unless they lose a match against the kids.

Although he always wanted to become a professional soccer player, El Chanfle has settled for being the props boy and water boy for Mexican soccer's Club América, whose coach they both have trouble getting along with because of the Chanfle's heightened sense of honesty and cleanliness on the court, something the rigid coach does not share. When he is asked to cheat during a game he refuses and is fired from his job, but his friend, the team doctor will try to get him back. At the same time, his wife Tere announces to be pregnant, and trying to sell a gun in order to make money for their future, unintentionally scares a old man, Chato, with it, who now seeks revenge.

Teacher in the most prestigious highschool in the country, François enjoys the life he’s always known, in the intellectual and bourgeois society of Paris. Trapped in a situation where he’s forced to accept a job in a school of a tough underprivileged suburb, he finds himself confronted to his own limits and to the upheaval of his values and certainties.

The Tucci family discovers that they have not really lost all their money and, refusing to pay Italian taxes, decides to turn Torresecca into a tax haven, relying on a post-Italian unification bureaucratic oversight.

After their boss' death, two clerks eagerly await the arrival of the next one, each one of them hoping to become the apple of his eye. They compete in every possible way to impress him, which causes lots of trouble and many misunderstandings.

An unsupervised junior soccer team loses its ace player to the leader of a rival gang. Since only an entire team can win, they must have her back to be able to win the game against the national team. The existence of The Wild Soccer Bunch is at stake ...

After five years enduring horrible work conditions, Sophia finally gets chosen for a long-awaited transfer from her thankless teaching job at a rough middle school. Ecstatic to start a new life teaching at the French Lycée in Barcelona, her hopes are dashed to bits when a well- connected, over-qualified teacher at an upscale Paris school cuts in to take the position. Determined to stand her ground, Sophia and her clever neighbour Mr. Picard join forces to sabotage her competitor’s candidacy.

Bomber is an unemployed boat captain. One day he meets Jerry, a manager of boxers who are struck by the force of his fists. That is when they see the chance to win big money.

Construction worker Oreste and young fiancee Adelaide meet Nello, a cook in a pizzeria. This love triangle often goes to communist rallies, and enjoys the filthy beaches of Ostia. Will the hostile environment pave a way to jealousy?

When a legendary Go master loses his title to a one-time friend and protégé, he sets out to reclaim it in a high-stakes battle of wits and skill.

Delphine, a disillusioned humanities teacher, makes an agreement with her students : they leave her in peace, as they get A+ grades. But these excellent results turn into a nightmare when the class is qualified for the Latin World Championships, in Naples.

Struggling with a financial crisis, a good-looking widow decides to put herself up for grabs. However, going through with it becomes almost impossible with a new love and the legal system thrown into the mix.

A good-natured but unlucky Italian is constantly going on a difficult situations, but never lose his mood.

Romeo and Felice lead two rival bands who constantly make fun of each other. One day, Romeo meets and falls in love with Giulietta, without knowing that she is Felice's sister.

Wojnar is a wealthy man who is marrying off his beautiful daughter Kasia, in a small town in present day Poland. Wojnar had to bribe the groom with a fancy car, since Kasia was pregnant by another man. At the end of the ceremony, the car is delivered by a gangster, who immediately demands the promised money and the deed to land from Kasia's grandfather. Unfortunately grandpa is unwilling to let go of the land. Meanwhile each of the workers at the reception demand to be paid, so Wojnar, who is very reluctant to part with his money, tries to haggle and bribe his way out of all the situations.

Cesare Botero, an ambitious and corrupt young minister, hires a new spokesman, honest and polite high school professor Luciano Sandulli.

All seems well for Amadeo, a shy but talented foosball player who's in love with the free-spirited Laura. Trouble strikes when Grosso, the world's best soccer player, returns home with plans to destroy the village and turn it into a new sports stadium. When Grosso kidnaps Laura, Amadeo receives the ultimate surprise when the figurines from his foosball table spring to life to help him save his beloved and reclaim the town.

Fantozzi is now retired but continues to go to the office where it is held up as a fine example of employees intending to do career.

Seven thirty-something friends organise a post-grad trip they were never able to take after school. They find new adventures on a Greek island, and show that true maturity is never really achieved.

A common day in the actual Italy, narrated by the different stories of seven different people, it's the starting point for an overview to the 21st century's italian society, among corrupt politicians, unfaithful husbands, hardcore soccer fans and dishonest businessmen.

Felice Sciosciammocca, the mayor of Roccasecca, sends his nephew Ciccillo to Naples so that he will become a good doctor.

Roberto is a student in a corrupt university where teachers sell exams and only hire friends and relatives.

She's a divorce lawyer, single mother and perpetually at war against men, he is a couple's therapist, single and not looking, they meet and collide in a bourgeois and romantic Rome...

Story of an ambitious young doctor through unethical means intend to make a quick career. Now is primary in a luxury clinic where administers the sick with the same cynicism of his young years.

A priest helps the small town he's stationed in to resolve conflicts by working together.

Two very different men have something in common: the work. When their companies are bought by a bigger one, who will take the only place of boss of the new company?

A boy and a girl fall in love but their fathers take a strong dislike to each other, clashing repeatedly during the preparations for the upcoming marriage.

The king of a secret modern-time Medieval kingdom leaves his throne in inheritance to his son, who struggles to lead the kingdom in fight for its independence from the Italian state.

An inspirational story about the power of hope in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, and an object lesson in what it really means to be a winner in life.

When mysterious green slime monsters start popping out of soccer balls, all-star athletes Zlatan Ibrahimović and Megan Rapinoe must team up with their four biggest fans to stop evil scientist "Weird Al" Yankovic from stealing their talent.





