Film reviews round-up: My Friend Dahmer, Bobby Robson, The Bromley Boys and more…

My Friend Dahmer 4* (15, 105mins)

But cartoonist John “Derf” Backderf had a very personal interest in this macabre story. He immediately recognised the killer as the strange boy he knew from high school in the late 1970s.

Writer/director Marc Meyers’s surprisingly understated adaptation of Backderf’s 2012 graphic novel recounts their uneasy friendship.

Crucially the film doesn’t seek to glamorise the killer or provide easy explanations for his depravity. On the surface Dahmer (Ross Lynch) is a typical awkward teenager.

But behind his mop hair and giant glasses, something very unhealthy is beginning to stir.

His father (Dallas Roberts) is worried about Jeff’s hobby of stripping roadkill of its flesh with chemicals. But he is mostly preoccupied by his crumbling marriage to Dahmer’s mentally ill mother (Anne Heche).

At school Dahmer finally makes friends. Derf (Alex Wolff) and his gang are taken with the way he anarchically disrupts lessons by pretending to have seizures. They call this “doing a Dahmer” and form a “fan club” egging him on to more extreme pranks

Derf doesn’t come out of this disturbing film particularly well but it lets us decide whether nature or nurture created the monster and Lynch puts in a quietly terrifying performance.

Bobby Robson: More Than A Manager  4* (12A, 101mins)

Condensing the late Bobby Robson’s long and varied career into a 100-minute film must have seemed like an impossible challenge for documentary makers Gabriel Clarke and Torquil Jones.

Their solution was to find a period when all the key forces in his life came into focus: the season he spent in charge of Barcelona in 1996-1997. With underperforming players and a board at war with fans over the sacking of his predecessor Johan Cruyff, Robson was in his element.

This touching, gripping and beautifully paced film charts that eventful year while jumping back and forth in time to show Robson’s time as boss of Ipswich, Newcastle and the last great England team.

Alex Ferguson, Alan Shearer, and Pep Guardiola all tell how he inspired a dressing room and revolutionised the game, while a teary Paul Gascoigne relates how a terminally ill Robson made sure he had support during his darkest days.

If you don’t blub when Gazza blubs, you need to check your pulse.

The Bromley Boys 2* (PG, 106mins)

This clunky low-budget British comedy, based on Dave Roberts’ memoir, plays like a non-league version of Fever Pitch.

It is 1969 and 15-year-old Dave (Brenock O’Connor) is obsessed with Bromley FC even though they are rooted to the bottom of one of England’s lowest divisions.

As Alan Davies’ mostly pointless narration explains, Dave has always been shunned by kids his own age. But hard times on the terraces see him bond with three middle-aged fans who hatch a plan to turn their team around.

A different kind of film would find a psychological reason for Dave’s obsession. But apart from a scene where his parents (Davies and Martine McCutcheon) fret over his expulsion from school, his all-consuming passion is played for very broad laughs.

The football scenes feel a little fake (their kit is Daz white even after the final whistle) and there are some sizeable plot holes but an enthusiastic turn from O’Connor just about keeps the film ticking over.

ISMAEL’S GHOSTS 2* (15, 135mins)

DESPITE some stylistic flourishes and the occasional moment of surreal humour, Arnaud Desplechin’s sprawling drama is a self-indulgent mess.

His meandering plot mostly follows womanising French film director Ismaël Vuillard (Mathieu Amalric) who is suddenly confronted with his wife who went missing 20 years before (Marion Cotillard).

Desplechin throws in long scenes from a poor spy drama Ismaël is filming, overwrought business with his girlfriend (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and an adventure for his producer who has to try to wrangle the director back on set. Sometimes less is more.

McKellen: Playing The Part, 3* (12A, 92mins)

Who wouldn’t want to spend 90 minutes in the company of Sir Ian McKellen? In Joe Stephenson’s engaging documentary Sir Ian sits down to tell his life story while the director splices in archive footage and dramatic reconstructions of his childhood.

The 79-year-old admits he is still playing a role for Stephenson although he lets his mask slip while admitting to his fear of death and recalling his years in the closet.

But he mostly talks about his campaigning for LGBT rights and his many acting triumphs. Interviews with friends and a few personal questions could have painted a more complete picture but footage of his stage performances is worth the price of admission alone.