Fifteen Minutes that Shook the World: Gerrard and Carragher in acting debut

Neil Fitzmaurice who plays Rafael Benitez

However one dresses things up, Fifteen Minutes that Shook the World is essentially just another spin on Liverpool FC's former glories - coming as it does more than four years after the historic Champions League final win in Istanbul.

And no doubt its critics (and almost certainly thousands of Everton fans) will be quick to dismiss it as little more than a stocking filler for LFC obsessives, eager to forget the opening half of their disastrous Premier League season.

But strangely - and much to my own surprise - this short film might just break the mould.

Twelve months in the making, the 45-minute movie is centred around the half-time team talk at the Ataturk stadium in Istanbul, with Rafa Benitez's side trailing three goals to nil, following a first-half white wash.

But far from being an honest insight into the frustration which must surely exist behind the closed doors of the dressing room, Neil Fitzmaurice's parody of Rafa Benitez jumps from something along the lines of Andrew Sachs' Manuel in Fawlty Towers, and Robert De Niro.

Slapstick cameo's from Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher lend the film enough credibility to get away with the tongue-in-cheek approach, of what might otherwise appear quite insulting and crass.

But the fact that Gerrard puts himself forward to take a firm boot up the backside from a Jimmy Traore lookalike means that the audience is almost obliged to accept the scene in the light-hearted fashion which it was intended.

The dialogue is littered with Merseyside wit, and it's hard to imagine the film translating particularly well beyond Liverpool.

As Carragher and Gerrard sit side by side in the dressing room, references to Gerrard's fear of the reception he may expect from the "Huyton baddies" if his team are sent down without a fight, may well be lost on LFC fans from further afield.

Jamie offers himself up for a cheap laugh soon after, joking that his Dad will "chase him around Bootle with a baseball bat", before ex-Liverpool midfielder Dietmaar Hamaan makes his entrance, donning a stetson and smoking an "illicit substance".

Benitez's implied lack of control in the dressing room seems surprisingly poignant, and despite director Illy's assurances that the reds boss has scene the film and given it his stamp of approval, it seems difficult to imagine the Spaniard embracing the humour quite so wholeheartedly as the film's makers have implied.

The shameless inclusion of extensive footage from the triumph reaffirms the expectations that ultimately, this is a film exclusively for Liverpool fans.

It's difficult to expect a sequel based on the reds defeat to AC Milan in the same fixture two years later - undoubtedly the humour would soon be lost on fans without the sense of inevitable triumph to keep the smiles beaming.

Similarly, the inclusion of the Alex Ferguson parody seen drinking scotch in an office at Old Trafford while apparently contemplating suicide, and a Gary Neville lookalike by the name of "Rat Boy", suggest the film would be met with little support at the other end with Liverpool's old rivals.

Enjoy Fifteen Minutes that Shook the World for what it is, and accept it in the light-hearted fashion in which it was intended, and it's difficult not to crack a smile.

Despite this, Manchester United fans should approach with caution.

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