Stars: Steve Evets, Eric Cantona, John Henshaw, Stephanie Bishop, Gerald Kearns, Lucy-Jo Hudson
Running time: 116 mins
Rating: ★★★

WHAT we expect from British director Ken Loach is gritty social realism not a mischievous football comedydrama featuring soccer legend Eric Cantona. But, after the likes of The Wind That Shook The Barley and Raining Stones, it’s good to find Loach in lighter mood and Cantona do something other than kick a ball and go on about seagulls following trawlers.

He plays himself (rather well, as it turns out) – conjured up as a figment of the imagination of stressed out postman Eric (Steve Ovets) whose wife has gone, leaving him with two unruly stepsons and a house that makes a rubbish tip looking like Buckingham Palace.

Eric the postman is pushed over the edge when he meets up again with his first wife Lily (Stephanie Bishop) as they share childminding duties for their daughter (Lucy-Jo Hudson, late of Coronation Street and Wild At Heart) while she’s at college.

He imagines a poster on the wall of his hero Eric Cantona coming to life, with the footballer offering advice on getting his life back on track. “He who is afraid to throw the dice, will never throw a six,” is among the nuggets of knowledge he kicks about the pitch.

Soon the two Erics are sharing a spliff and musing on the meaning of life. This meeting of minds gives Eric the postman the courage to do something about his life and help his stepson (Gerald Kearns, from Shameless) out of a spot of gun trouble with the local Mr Big.

The plan involves coachloads of Man United supporters and dozens of Eric Cantonas, as well as the real one.

Looking For Eric is a film of two halves as it displays both the social conscience expected of a Loach film and, in Paul Laverty’s script, a nice line in self-deprecation on the part of Cantona.

He has real screen presence, while Evets, in his first lead, never puts a foot wrong as the less than first class postman.