Directed by: Peter Segal
Starring: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Burt Reynolds, Nelly, Michael Irvin, Bill Goldberg, James Cromwell, William Fichtner, Bill Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Steve Austin, Dalip Singh, Cloris Leachman, Nicholas Turturr, Tracy Morgan
The difference between this version of The Longest Yard and the 1974 version, which also starred Burt Reynolds, is tone. The earlier version is more serious, while this version milks the story for its comic possibilities. Both films more or less work, but I would give the nod to the original because we see Burt Reynolds' Paul Crewe grow and mature into the leader he was meant to be, while Adam Sandler's Paul Crewe is content to give wet willies to crooked referees.
Paul Crewe is a former pro and college football standout who runs afoul of the law after stealing his girlfriend's car and leading police on a car chase through city streets while drunk. There is talk of a point-shaving scandal in his past, which we know will be revisited before the movie ends. Paul is sentenced to Allenville prison in the middle of nowhere, or perhaps West Texas, and is the type of prison that has a hot box for those who anger the warden. Warden Hazen (Cromwell) wants Paul to help him coach his football team made up of prison guards to prepare for the big game against a rival prison. Paul declines and receives a beatdown and a week in the hot box for his trouble. Paul relents and suggests a tune-up game for the guards against the convicts he volunteers to coach. The warden loves the idea, figuring his guards will steamroll the convicts. Paul sells the convicts on the game by selling that they will finally get a chance to take perfectly legal shots (or not so legal shots) at the guards who have made their lives miserable.
The pickings are slim among the convicts. Most of them can't play football, and the ones that can play, such as Deacon Moss (Irvin), choose not to play mostly on racial grounds. The convicts have very little skill, equipment, or practice facilities, but soon Paul is joined by Caretaker (Rock) and former Heisman winner-turned-lifer Nate Scarborough (Reynolds) to help whip the team into shape. It would have been amusing to have Reynolds play an older Paul Crewe, while have Sandler take on another name, but no such luck.
The convicts are a colorful bunch of misfits, while the guards are single-mindedly sadistic, which will make it that much sweeter for the convicts to lay them out on the football field. The game itself is pretty exciting and we care enough about the outcome to keep watching while ensuring the warden gets what's coming to him. Adam Sandler isn't the first actor you would think of when thinking "former pro football standout", but he handles himself adeptly enough. Chris Rock gets most of the best one-liners, and Reynolds delivers droll asides on the action as only he can.
So, what we have with this updated The Longest Yard is a comedy based on the original film, with much of the same players and situations intact. It doesn't strive to be a great sports comedy, but one which you won't feel too bad about spending two hours to watch.
The convicts are a colorful bunch of misfits, while the guards are single-mindedly sadistic, which will make it that much sweeter for the convicts to lay them out on the football field. The game itself is pretty exciting and we care enough about the outcome to keep watching while ensuring the warden gets what's coming to him. Adam Sandler isn't the first actor you would think of when thinking "former pro football standout", but he handles himself adeptly enough. Chris Rock gets most of the best one-liners, and Reynolds delivers droll asides on the action as only he can.
So, what we have with this updated The Longest Yard is a comedy based on the original film, with much of the same players and situations intact. It doesn't strive to be a great sports comedy, but one which you won't feel too bad about spending two hours to watch.
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