Pretty good in some parts

Rating: 5/10 (15 January 2006)

I don't know if its just me, but Adam Sander movies are getting pretty redundant. His comedy, along with the whole teen phase thing just isn't selling right now (compared to Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Ben stiller comedies).On the bright side, Adam isn't the only one. Jim Carey is getting pretty dry himself. Anyway, this movie is a solid 5 because there were definitely some funny parts in the movie, but not everywhere. The movie starts off pretty good, with Courtney cox and Adam getting in a fight (by the way, David arquette is a lucky guy). From there the movie picks up into prison which is funny on some parts but not everywhere due to some of the issues prison inmates face, as well as other issues. I have to admit, i wasn't laughing when Adam was physically assaulted in prison. But it still was funny with the secretary and the try outs of the inmates. Toward the middle of the movie the comedy was still fresh, but than it started dealing with issues like racism which i have to admit is pretty extreme for Steve Austin to even do. The actors were cool though because of the wrestling stars and NFL icons used in the movie. Hunger's character was weird, he didn't have any motivation to do what he did to his fellow inmates but yet you still hate the guy for what he did. But what does he get out of it? His character didn't really have any advantage by telling the warden or guards any info. You would think the warden would cut him a deal like he does with Adam Sander. The low point of the movie though is when caretaker died. I was expecting something like just throwing rats inside the cell or something funny or stupid, but a bomb? that right there is too extreme for a comedy. When caretaker died, it felt like you shouldn't be laughing anymore from that point on. You wanted Adam to take legal action or something else besides just play football and beat the warden. Even when the classic rock and roll music hit at his grave side you didn't feel like "yeah we should kick the wardens ass". You felt more like mourning for the guy besides just thinking about football. I know adam tried to give a inspirtaional speech but hey, if a buddy just died, you probably wouldn't start cheering when they give you your uniform. The problem with this is the movie went from a comedy to a drama in 5 minutes. Don't get me wrong, it was still a comedy after his death but it just didn't feel like it, or you just didn't want to really laugh at all. People are probably asking "well it's a comedy, so don't go to hard on the story line" but hey, don't throw in any drama in the movie. If you look at wedding crashers for example, the friends got in a fight, which happens in life and it can be repaired. But owen and vince didn't DIE. Death is something that can make comedy go from funny to serious in no time (Good example is chazz in wedding crashers at the funerals, it was written so that it wouldn't be funny at all, and you get that feel with owen looking at chazz and wondering what he just done). The football game itself was standard feel good story of the year type. Rob Schneide made his cameo to get the crowd rolling again (lucky he was in there too), but it didn't sum up the movie or leave you with heart warming satisfaction that everything would be OK from that point on. Of course there in a prison, but come on, this is a comedy not a drama. The part with the warden wanting to shoot Adam was once again like a drama and you felt like Burt Reynolds was going to jump in front of the bullet in slow motion saying no. It just ended off strange. so the cons beat the guards but so what? Adam is pretty much done for the rest of his life (didn't resolve that issue) nor did it resolve the issue with the guards (you know there's a price to be had). Overall the movie was a solid 5 on the comedy, but it was just hard to laugh on concepts like racism, abuse, death etc. Sure it was set in a prison, but too many issues presented in the movie.