Underrated

Rating: 8/10 (30 April 2006)

After reading Roger Ebert's review of this remake, I tend to believe that one's view of a film is skewed somewhat by the end of the cinematic bell curve they lean toward. Ebert, for example, lives to review films like The Godfather or The Empire Strikes Back, and his perspective on films that achieve less than these milestones in history reflects this. Me, I am very much at the opposite end of the scale. I view films like Ghosts Of Mars or From Justin To Kelly and see all kinds of cinematic delights, mostly in guessing how the makers will screw up next. Now, while I was expecting neither extreme from The Longest Yard, I did not expect it to be as enjoyable as it turned out to be. Easily Sandler's best film since Happy Gilmore, The Longest Yard sets out to do one thing, namely to make the viewer laugh, and it does so quite well. Others have commented that it is not the original and we should all get used to that. I agree. I have seen both remakes of The Longest Yard without having seen the original. If the original is better reflected by Mean Machine, then I would even hazard a guess that this particular remake is better.
Of course, the biggest hurdle for this film is selling Adam Sandler as a star quarterback. In a sport where two metres in height is often the minimum requirement for a professional career, Sandler does have a hard sell. Instead, he chooses to emphasise the has-been aspect of his character, playing up the drunken antics until one is ready to believe that yes, this obnoxious moron really did make a living throwing a ball from one end of the field to the other. The opening scene is calculated specifically for this purpose, and in the sense that it suspends disbelief, it is a success. The pace slows a bit when we are establishing the prison, where the character finds his notoriety more of a hindrance than a blessing. Missing from this remake is the "you had everything they would give an arm for and threw it away" that was so memorable in Mean Machine, but this remake makes up for that in more crafty, subtle ways. Also of great benefit is the characterisations, painted in far broader strokes than the British remake. It helps to distinguish the characters a little.
Some would say that the Adam Sandler routine gets in the way of the story, but I truly believe he enhances it. Sandler works best when his character has a second or third dimension. Granted, attempts to graft these dimensions onto his character have backfired before (Big Daddy and 50 First Dates spring to mind). But Sandler and the script he is working from are working in sync rather than against one another, and the scenes are integrated together rather than seemingly cobbled from different films. Other unlikely heroes pepper the cast, with Chris Rock in particular standing out as the only cast member who looks less likely to be an American football player than Adam Sandler. Burt Reynolds shows up for no readily apparent reason other than including someone who was in the original, but he too makes the viewer believe in the role. The myriad of small roles portrayed by men so large that crane shots are required to keep their heads in frame with those of the stars are one-note, but oh what a nice note it is.
About the only real problem I have with this remake is that I had some expectations which weren't met. The original has a reputation as a social satire, whereas this remake is about as deep as a puddle. Once the first layer is peeled away, there is little going on underneath. It's just that the first layer is so hilarious at times that this hardly matters. Even Courtney Cox is better than her usual self here, providing setup for the introduction that hints she may have a future in real comedy. Chris Rock even manages to get in almost a solid hour of screen time without being annoying. Just as hilariously bad films have to happen by accident, The Longest Yard is the kind of film that seems to have just come together naturally. Adam Sandler fans will find much to enjoy here, although he restrains the more obnoxious side of his schtick for obvious reasons. It is also a credit to him that he does not hog the spotlight, instead sharing it with his co-stars or foils, which in turn allows the characters he is bouncing off the appropriate level of development to be funny.
On a scale of one to ten, I gave The Longest Yard circa 2005 an eight. It is nowhere near the same sport as classics like The Godfather, but it was never meant to be. Instead, it simply tries to deliver a good laugh, and succeeds for the most part. It shows that Adam Sandler's pool of comedic inspiration might not be totally dried out just yet. See it with a couple of friends and a keg of beer.