The Longshots (MGM)
Good But Not Great
The Longshots is one of those movies that gives you a good feeling while you are watching it but soon fades from memory when you leave. Ice Cube and Keke Palmer are very good as the man (Ice Cube) who coaches his niece (Palmer) to football glory, but there is just nothing there to give the movie that extra oomph. Director Fred Durst should have made that play for the heartstrings that make movies such as this one come alive.
Ice Cube plays Curtis Plummer, a down on his luck man living in Minden, Illinois, a small town that is going broke. Industries are shutting down left and right and there is nothing to get the people excited about their humdrum lives. Plummers niece Jasmine is drifting through life feeling unpopular and to some extent unloved. Her father, Curtis brother, abandoned his family when Jasmine was very small.
Jasmines mother Claire (Tasha Smith) asks Curtis to look after his niece in the afternoon when she gets home from school. Curtis is at first reluctant but later warms to the idea, especially when he learns Jasmine has a natural ability to play football. He talks the coach (Matt Craven) into taking her on as a quarterback for the Pop Warner team in his town.
Jasmine ends up taking the team to the Pop Warner Tournament in Miami, Florida. She also rallies the town to take pride in itself. Led by a local minister (Garrett Morris) they clean up the downtown and gain hope for themselves and their team.
Ice Cube is solid as Curtis. He has the kind of on screen personality that makes you care for him no matter what his situation. When he plays someone who is something of a hero he has you from hello.
Palmer is equally good. She goes from sullen student to confident athlete. Her interplay with Ice Cube is natural and appealing. These two develop a relationship on screen that spills over on to the audience.
The film is rated PG for mild profanity.
If director Fred Durst, of Limp Bizkit fame, had only gone for more of the maudlin he might have attracted a larger audience. Some people criticize schmaltz but it does have its place. A few tugs of the heartstrings would have had some people coming back for more.
As is, the movie entertains for the length of its screen time but it doesnt linger in the mind or heart after it is over. Still it is a movie certainly worth watching.
I scored The Longshots a passed 6 out of 10.
