Anyone who has made two commercially successful British films in a row ought to be respected; if he can make it three with Purely Belter, Mark Herman deserves a medal. One hopes he will emulate Brassed Off and Little Voice with this comedy about two young Newcastle kids trying to find the wherewithal for season tickets to watch Alan Shearer and co.

It is a story you want to like from the start, though it does take a bit of time to get going and sometimes seems a bit flat. In the end, however, Herman, who adapted Jonathan Tullock's book The Season Ticket as well as directing, paints an affecting picture of hope triumphing over some pretty nasty early experience.

The boys (touchingly played by Chris Beatty and Greg McLane) both come from broken homes. The younger of them has a father who, when he appears at all, beats up his mother and tampers with his homeless sister. The boy doesn't go to school and the only thing that keeps him off drugs is the effort to save money for the season ticket. The older boy takes up with a girl whom he gets pregnant, but who discards him for someone with a job. This is a world where idols are needed and Shearer fits the bill perfectly. He is in the film briefly, but Herman sensibly doesn't dwell on the game.

What he really wants to tell us is that life is hard for those at the bottom of the pile and the help they get is not the sort they'll readily accept. If there is a model, it is Ken Loach's Kes. He hasn't got Loach's cinematic skills, but his affection for his characters is obvious.