The late Stanley Kubrick was known to have once commented that he could never replicate the drama and emotion that live sports gives its viewers. After a weekend of watching US Open tennis, NFL and the Ashes series, I’m inclined to agree. There’s nothing that matches the suspense and excitement of an evenly matched contest.
Sports movies on the other hand are a different beast. Sure, every now and then there’s a ‘Rocky’ or the original ‘Bad News Bears’, but the majority are formulaic and shallow. Almost every one involves insurmountable odds and the good guys prevail using all the lessons from the first two acts.
Adam Sandler’s comedies aren’t exactly high-brow, but his box office record with films like ‘The Water Boy’ and ‘Happy Gilmore’ is very good. Sandler’s latest sports-comedy, ‘The Longest Yard’ is no exception on both counts.
Sandler plays Paul ‘Wrecking’ Crewe, a down on his luck former star quarterback who runs afoul of the law. While in prison he is recruited to lead a team of convicts to play the guards. Needless to say it’s an uphill task to get the various groups of inmates to work together, but helping Crewe are Caretaker (Chris Rock) and Scarborough (Burt Reynolds).
The fact that this is a remake of a 30-year-old film (starring the aforementioned Reynolds) makes the plot a bit transparent. The only changes come in the comedy of Rock and Sandler, with Rock stealing all the scenes. And of course the football action is modernized with the kind of hits we could only see in videogames. But, by film’s end we revert to the original film’s track and as in every sports film the last minute of the game seems to last ten.
Now that the NFL season has started, this is a pleasant diversion for those fans that just can’t get enough. And it’s a bonus if you’re a fan of Sandler or Rock. If you don’t like it, you can always catch the real excitement every weekend through January.
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