If anyone liked this movie, I'll bet 10 to 1 they NEVER saw the original!

Rating: 3/10 (12 June 2005)

THE LONGEST YARD: The fact that I barely remember the original (seen it once in the theatre in the 70's), and the fact I wanted to rent it again, and give you a proper comparison theatre report, is one of the main reasons I'm late. Anyways the movie starts off in the right foot and follows a formula (like most movies these days), but as time wears on race & homosexuality tend to way heavy, veering further away from the original, and how many gay jokes do you need in a prison flick? (this ain't Will & Grace do Alcatraz!). The addition of Burt Reynolds was purely cosmetic as he did little to offer the story, its a shame as he was in his element in the original. Sandler can barely fit in Reynolds shoes and leans heavily on comedy verses story. Chris Rock as the caretaker seemed funnier than Sandler, still the racial conflicts are weak in the 2000's verses the same situations of the 70's. The actual game seems weak in comparison too, from what I can remember in the original, the game was exciting and you rooted for the underdogs (much like in M*A*S*H), this game I couldn't wait for it to end, much less care who won. I also heard Eddie Albert (original Warden) died a day before this movie was released, just giving him enough time to try out his rolls in his new coffin. So like most remakes I have to ask why bother? Write something original for a change Hollywood, PLEASE!!!!