Introduction I have always been a fan of
Adam Sandler brand of
comedy. I have quite liked to
see most of his movies. So when I came to know that he had done a movie with WWE superstars in that, I was wondering what a comedian has to do with WWE superstars and decided to check out the movie.
The Plot Paul Crewe (
Adam Sandler) is an ex-professional footballer who has been thrown out of the league on charges of throwing away a match. He idles his life away in repentance of that deed and somehow finds himself in jail.
Warden Hazen (
James Cromwell) asks Paul to assemble a team of convicts to take on the prison guards football team to give them practice before their impending season. Hazen wants the convicts to be crushed by the Guards in the game and hopes that would raise their morale enough to win the season.
Crewe sets up assembling a team with the help of an inmate, Caretaker (
Chris Tucker). He also finds an ally in an ex-legend Nate Scarborough (
Burt Reynolds). Together the trio muster up a team and they train despite attempts from the guards to spoil their training.
On the eve of the match, tragedy strikes and Caretaker is murdered by the Prison Guards!! Despite this, the prisoners take guard against Guards in the final showdown.
What happens next? Does the Prison Guards massacre the Prisoners? Or do the prisoners do a number on the guards? Check out this
comedy for the details!!
Critic's Viewpoint Remakes usually are not as good or as attractive as the original as the story is usually known and what remains to be seen is the comparison of the new actors with the old ones. So it is usually very difficult to build in a new charm to an old plot. In this regard, Peter Segal and Adam Sandler have done a good job of generating enough interest points to attract the audience
First of all, the movie's recruiting team needs a pat in the back for assembling virtually the entire roster of WWE for teams on both sides for this movie. You see The Great Khali, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bill Goldberg and Kevin Nash. Also you see NFL superstars like Bill Romanowski, Brian Bosworth, Bob Sapp and Michael Irvin. Add to that as a dash of inspiration the original Paul Crewe from the original movie, Burt Reynolds, plays the role of Coach Nate Scarborough. So in a nutshell the recruiting team pulled off of coup for this movie.
Having assembled such a huge team of non-actors and athletes, it must have been one hell of a task for coach (or is it director) Peter Segal to get them to act. Given this circumstances, the performances from the crew are quite creditable. Adam Sandler and Chris Tucker bring in their usual sense of comedy. The laid back style of Adam Sandler works wonder with quick mouthed style of Chris Tucker.
The others do put in some amount of acting to go with their superstar status. The movie is comic without being hilarious. There are no real great quotes or comic one-liners in the movie, but overall there is a humorous undertone to the plot.
The final showdown, the actual football match has been captured pretty lively. You do feel the excitement of the match and the ending is climatic. And of course, Burt Reynolds, was going to be involved in some piece of action in the actual match, given the fact that he led the convicts to victory last time around!!
The movie, though, is strewn with expletives and hence is not suitable for the younger audience who would actually have loved to see their favorite WWE superstars in action in the movie.
Summary All in all a nice comic movie for a nice evening. You can enjoy all the more if you are a WWE or NFL fan.
I would give this movie a 4 star rating for it's entertainment value.