Cornier than a veggie burger but still fun - 68%

Rating: 6/10 (10 April 2006)

My Better Half has been raving about this film for some time and so it was that I ended up spending damn near the rest of my store credit getting this on DVD. I'd be lying if I said that I was enthusiastic as movies and American football tend to go together about as well as Naomi Campbell and Spanish housekeepers. But despite a blip with one film which I still don't like, her recommendations have usually hit the right spot so I wasn't too bothered. And believe it or not, she's done it again! Perhaps she should get into the movie reviewing business, even if her typing needs improvement!
Adam Sandler plays Paul Crewe, a former NFL star who has fallen on hard times. Kicked out of the league for throwing a game and busted for drink driving (on national TV), he finds himself in a Texan dustbowl prison under the supervision of a football-mad warden (James Cromwell) who quickly conjures up a plan. He needs to get his team of sadistic guards up to speed and quickly so he arranges a game between the guards and the inmates, believing it to be little more than a one-sided massacre. But Crewe gradually assembles a worthy opposition of convicts with the help of fellow cons Caretaker (Chris Rock) and Coach Nate Scarborough (Burt Reynolds) and realising that they could have a game on their hands, both teams resort to every trick in the book (as well as some new ones) in order to win. Cameo fans will be in seventh Heaven with at least three wrestlers, Nelly, Michael Irvin and Courtney Cox all in there somewhere.
First of all, this is a sports movie and therefore, it is as hackneyed and ridden with clichés as they come. Performances are varied, as you'd expect from such a rag-bag cast of actors, rappers and wrestlers but nobody tops Burt "The Ham" Reynolds for the worst performance. The good news, however, is that despite some dodgy delivery and an unashamedly predictable script, the film still works despite all the odds stacked against it. The comic touches hit all the right marks (even if some of the gags are somewhat crude) and the rivalry between guards and prisoners descends into an entertaining all-out war. But although this is basically the same as "The Mean Machine", you still leave the movie with that uplifting feeling that most sports movies strive for but rarely attain.
So can I recommend "The Longest Yard"? Yes, I feel I can. By it's very nature, it isn't going to change the world or be remembered as a classic but it does what it does very well indeed. Like I say, it ticks the box for every prison movie and every football movie cliché in existence but that doesn't stop "The Longest Yard" from being a fine example of a sporting comedy. Let's face it, name another one. Personally, this strikes me as being a perfect rental movie in which you can watch and enjoy it but probably forget about it the next day. So it's good but not what I'd call a classic. Think of it as a touchdown conversation instead of a two-pointer.