Welcome to Wrexham, season 2 review: Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney front this vapid advert masquerading as a sports documentary
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Enter, then, actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds – the latter of whom is Canadian-born, but now as American as apple pie and air conditioning – dispatched from the comfort of their Hollywood homes to save Wrexham AFC, a historic British football club on the brink of extinction. Back now for its second season, which charts the club’s successful bid for promotion, the Disney+ documentary Welcome to Wrexham is possibly the most lavish PR stunt in the history of celebrity culture. “If this was happening to one of our rivals,” a local supporter muses, in a moment of reflection, “we’d hate it.” Because Wrexham, with their shiny documentary, have been able to convince players like Elliot Lee and Jordan Tunnicliffe to drop down the divisions to play for them. “I don’t know how you don’t root for a town like Wrexham,” Reynolds argues, introducing a sickly roll call of supporters from clubs like Bolton Wanderers and Dagenham & Redbridge who praise the Wrexham project.