OK for what it is, a comedy farce.

Rating: Null/10 (27 October 2005)

I am not burdened with having seen the original 31 years ago, so was able to enjoy the DVD with my two 16 year olds. There is absolutely nothing ground breaking here. Everything has been covered before in prison movies and various sports movies. The ending is fairly predictable. Those of us who enjoy seeing it are fans of Adam Sandler, fans of Burt Reynolds, and fans of old-fashioned slapstick humor. My only complaint was the rather heavy amount of off-color language and sexual references for a PG-13 movie.
Adam Sandler is Paul Crewe, former pro football QB accused of throwing a game. He ends up in prison after taking his girlfriend's car for a ride, getting stopped by cops acting on her stolen car report, then running from the cops, thinking as a celebrity of sorts he would not get into trouble. While in prison, he agrees to put together a team to play an inmate football game against the guards.
Much of the middle of the movie is about recruiting various large and tough prisoners for the team. Many were reluctant at first, but various insults from the guards motivated them. Chris Rock became the assistant and they called him Caretaker. Burt Reynolds, former Heisman winner, helped out as Coach Nate Scarborough.
SPOILERS FOLLOW. When the big game came, the guards scored two quick touchdowns because the inmates were channeling all their anger at getting back at the mean guards. However, after Crewe organizes them a bit, they come back to tie at halftime. During halftime, the warden had a private conversation with Crewe. Not wanting the guards to lose, he gave Crewe an ultimatum -- throw the game or face blame for the prison death of the Caretaker and spend the rest of his life in prison. At first he cooperates, then sees the disappointment of his prisoner teammates, confesses to them that he had thrown the pro game, vowed not to do another and, in the last seconds personally scores the 2-point conversion to win the game by 1 point.