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 Chris Rock, Burt Reynolds and Adam Sandler star in the remake of the football comedy The Longest Yard. |
We'll buy Adam Sandler as a wedding singer, marine biologist, respected chef -- even Marisa Tomei's boyfriend.
But Sandler as a superstar quarterback? More-over, one renowned for his underwear ads?
There are some leaps of logic even we can't make -- even if, to its credit, this remake of the 1970s Burt Reynolds flick never purports to be anything more than a boneheaded diversion for the Happy Gilmore set. (At least you believe Sandler playing golf. His role here is almost as believable as Courtney Cox's breasts which cameo memorable in the film's prologue. Apparently she's made two new friends.)
Sandler, retrenching for his young male fans after his more high-minded drama Spanglish flopped last year, takes over the role that Reynolds played three decades earlier -- that of a disgraced quarterback who, after being sent to prison, finds redemption by assembling a team of motley convicts to play the prison guards. Reynolds turns up in a supporting role as a convict and the team's coach in a nod to the original, and his presence at least adds some gravitas to a cast that includes real-life players, a rapper (Nelly) and comedian Chris Rock, here solely for the hefty paycheque.
But Rock is the least of the movie's problems.
For one, it vaciltates between the underdog grit of the original and the slipshod silliness you'd expect from a big Sandler comedy. (Even Rob Scheider turns up in a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo as a prisoner -- presumably punishment for Duece Bigalow.)
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Predictably, the result ends up being lesser than either Reynolds' Longest Yard or Sandler's better work -- simply because it can't decide which it wants to be. That's not to say there aren't some laughs here -- there are, and things pick up for the final third with the football game the story's been leading up to.
But until then, it feels like this remake should have been renamed The Really Longest Yard.
EXTRAS: Optional commentary by director Peter Segal, deleted and extended scenes and Nelly's music video for Errtime.
THE LONGEST YARD
STARS: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock
DIRECTED BY: Peter Segal
STUDIO: Paramount
IN BRIEF: Sandler stars in this remake of the Burt Reynolds original as a jailed pro-football player who puts together a team of convicts to play the prison guards.
RATING: 2 out of 5