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There's no real punch to 'Green Street Hooligans'

Say it isn't so, Frodo. Give up honor and goodness and what's right for Middle Earth in exchange for fisticuffs in soccer-mad England?

Odd Lot Releasing 'Green Street Hooligans' C The verdict: Melodrama mixed with fisticuffs. Too bad a couple of the fights are poorly staged. Director: Lexi Alexander Starring: Elijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam, Claire Forlani, Marc Warren, Leo Gregory Run time: 108 minutes Release date: Sept. 9, 2005 Rating: R for brutal violence, pervasive language and some drug use. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Green Street Hooligans'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Elijah Wood is following up the grand "The Lord of the Rings" movies with a series of indie films. One of the latest is "Green Street Hooligans," a sometimes watchable yet always simple-minded venture into English street culture that routinely devolves into hand-to-face combat.

Wood plays an American lad unjustly kicked out of Harvard who winds up across the pond, landing in the middle of soccer-loving headbangers — who, on game day, literally do just that.

No one's ever going to buy the perpetual pipsqueak Wood as a thug with bloodlust, but his gang co-star, English-born Charlie Hunnam (from TV's underappreciated but wonderful "Undeclared"), is convincing. Hunnam's the most acceptable actor in the movie, walking a fine line between his job as an elementary school teacher and his off-the-clock revelry as brute-force leader.

Unfortunately, there's not much to the movie. It swims and sinks in melodrama. Plus, "Hooligans" suffers from one killer blow — namely, a couple of poorly staged fights. Ouch.