Another poor Hollywood remake and Sandler is unlikable in the lead.

Rating: 2/10 (7 June 2005)

Another poor Hollywood remake even Sadler fans will find\ few positives:
This movie pretty much sucked starting from the idea that it could somehow be better than the 1974 cult classic. This movie fails on so many levels it's not even funny. Even guys like Stone Cold Steve Austin or Kevin Nash can distort the pathetic director, the overused prison stereotypes that we've seen a million times, and UNLIKABLE character in the lead (Sandler). Etc.
Well let's start with the last part, Adam Sandler just sucks in the lead, Sandler himself is pretty hard to put up with so why put him in the lead?
Other failures. The fact of the matter is that is a typical Sandler vehicle, his worse one yet , but if you have seen his other movies they're almost the same He makes an ass of himself gets away with it, then the movie ends. "Punch Drunk Love" was the exception.
The plot is that Paul Crewe (Sandler) wrecks his car into another police car while the fact that his car was reported stolen by his girlfriend played in a small role by Courtney Cox. Then he gets of to prison which results in the usual prison offensive jokes we've seen a million times that gets old:
"Someone will make you his bitch"-Caretaker (Chris Rock).
How enlightening, lol Tell us something we don't know. Eventually the Warden of the prison played a weak and flat James Cromwell who has an easy role recruits Paul to play against the guards in a football game.
As someone else stated Sandler is totally unrealistic as a former football player, much less a quarterback. Didn't we actually see Sandler play a football/loser type of role already? Why yes we did it was called The WATERBOY!!!
Why Peter Segal elected to choose Sandler is anyone's guess. I guess he figured Sandler could carry this movie, he was wrong. I guess he figured Sandler could be funny enough in this movie to warrant a full viewing. He was wrong again. I guess he figured that fans would forget the great original that inspired the remake and wouldn't notice the fact that this movie is a pale and cheap imitation of it, he was wrong a third time.
I did get a couple of good chuckles though (one or three at the least) when Paul recruits this huge inmate playing Ping Pong is actually well executed. However that's one of a few good laughs I did get.
Unlikable characters, prison stereotypes and familiar jokes, a dimwitted weak actor/comedian in the lead is all that told me this movie was a familiar. Ebert and Roper were right on this one panning the movie.
The original was funny but it was also raw, gritty, suspenseful and the keyword....it was original.
Thus a remake was unwarranted and unneeded. I second then all the other critics and fans who say Hollywood should stop remaking these classics and leave well enough alone.
They're not fooling anybody and in the process our respect for any filmmaker who participates in a remake is lost. Peter Segal has made some good funny movies: The Naked Gun the Final Insult, Anger Managment and Fifty First Dates were entertaining but this movie is not.
It's just a predictable ride, boring and lame that doesn't deserve a second turn.
But then again Segal as most Hollywood directors , probably could not deny the huge money he was offered to do it as well as the unfunny and uninspiring Adam Sandler.