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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Jack Seale

Necaxa review – Eva Longoria’s attempt at recreating Welcome to Wrexham is just painful

Longoria with her Mexican football team in Necaxa on Disney+.
‘Longoria laughs, heartily, and on her own’ … The Desperate Housewives star in Necaxa on Disney+. Photograph: PA

Welcome to Wrexham is one of those TV shows that has moved its genre up a level. After years of glossy “behind-the-scenes” documentaries that were just another part of million-dollar sports franchises’ marketing portfolios, the story of unlikely celebrity investors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney taking the extremely unlikely decision to buy AFC Wrexham was an unexpected tonic and a worldwide hit.

Inevitably, imitations are now spawning, with Amazon last month debuting the underwhelming Built in Birmingham, about NFL superstar Tom Brady’s half-hearted involvement in Birmingham City. Necaxa should have better prospects, since it’s on Disney+, the same platform as Welcome to Wrexham, and Reynolds and McElhenney are in it. But all the peculiar magic of the parent show is painfully absent.

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