The Longest Yard
Review by Clint Morris
Adam Sandler's latest film might remind some
of playing a familiar video game.
Since you've experienced it before, it's
hardly new - but each time you wobble that joystick, giving life to
it's central character, there's a chance you will discover something
different, be it a new villain, new fight manoeuvre, hidden treasure
or, predominantly, a higher level.
It's much the same case with Sandler's
retool of the old-hat Longest Yard template - the
storyline and backdrop's as familiar as a rainbow after a squall, but
the cast, tone and energy of the remake may seem like a welcome,
untried, new addition.
Granted, for those that have never seen the
original film (and let's admit it, those who consider themselves Adam
Sandler's target audience probably aren't old enough to have seen the
original) or the recent remake, Mean Machine, The
Longest Yard will play as well as a shiny new baby grand
piano - untarnished keys, in-tune, mildly exciting.
First thing to get over with the retool is
its headline act and script: Whilst Burt Reynolds looked the part of a
former pro footballer, Adam Sandler most certainly doesn't.
But compared to the lettering of the
reasonably well detailed original, this is fluff, and no real reason to
expect any more character background or detail or plot here than there
is in any other Sandler comedy. This is the funnyman's emblematic silly
stick, with perhaps a splotch more 'heart' than usual.
Football star Paul Crewes (Sandler) is
arrested for stealing a car belonging to his girl (Courteney Cox). When
the fallen superstar arrives at the remote prison farm he'll be
spending the next three years at, he's offered a chance to play ball
again. The Warden (James Cromwell) asks Crewe whether he'll compose a
football team to take on the Guards. Of course, the team Crewes is
asked to put together is merely being designed so they can lose against
the bullish prison security.
Looking for a chance to get back at the
fraudulent guards, the local convicts put their hands up to be a part
of the team - they include the good-natured Caretaker (Chris Rock),
seasoned crook Nate Scarborough (Burt Reynolds, the star of the
original film), the fast-on-his-feet Earl Megget (Nelly) and goose
Brucie (Nicholas Turturro).
With team spirit has high as it could be,
Crewes begins to think a few extra years in jail might be worth it if
he can humiliate the pig-headed warden and guards at the game. Thus
begins the training and ultimately, the smack down.
Whilst it is a much sillier film than the
Burt Reynolds starring original, what the original and the remake (I
really should be saying 'second remake' shouldn't I?) have in common is
that grand "cheer 'em on" game that occupies most of the third reel.
Whilst Reynolds' film played it a little 'rougher', it's no less
exciting here, it just plays to a more comedic tune.
Unless you're an uber-purist, you'll find The
Longest Yard kicks enough goals to sustain cinema price
admission.
3 out of 5
The Longest Yard
Australian release: Thursday the 2nd of June, 2005
Cast: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Burt Reynolds, James
Cromwell, Walter Williamson, Michael Irvin, Nelly, Eddie Bunker,
Nicholas Turturro, Terry Crews, David Patrick Kelly, Bill Goldberg,
William Fichtner, Kevin Nash, Steve Austin, Brian Bosworth.
Director: Peter Segal.
Website: Click here.
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