The longest yawn

Rating: 3/10 (14 January 2007)

The world was crying out for a remake of a movie about penitentiary prisoners and guards having a football game. Yeah, right. Why should anyone care? The film's whole premise is that everyone on the planet seems to care about the outcome (it's on national TV ha ha), yet the film never offers any reason why anyone (especially you) should.
People are bribed, threatened, beaten, even murdered because of this game. Naturally, prison guards are the bad guy: cowardly, plotting, bullies etc. you've heard it all before. The convicts are (Wow!!!! Original!!!) the good guys, but you're never given any reason to like anybody on either side. Then we get some typical stereotypes: the loudmouth fast-talking guy inmate (Chris Rock, who tries to strain humor from the uninspired script, but even he can't save it), cross-dressing cheerleaders, a plotting warden, a hero who fell from grace and wants to redeem himself, and so on. Adam Sandler does his usual slow, dull, droning voice: he could have put the opposing team to sleep, but instead comes up with other tired, overused, predictable tricks during the game. Burt Reynolds does his usual "Look at silly Burt" routine, which also fails to save the movie.
Dull, clichéd, stereotypes that you never care about. A dead script, pointless plot, and humorless overacting. Not recommended.