The Longshots DVD Review

About.com Rating

The Story

"Inspired" by the true story of teenage female quarterback Jasmine Plummer, The Longshots stars the appealing Keke Palmer (star of Akeelah and the Bee, the movie made notorious on Michael Showalter's Sandwiches and Cats album) as Plummer, a shy and introverted teenager who has trouble fitting in at school. When she's hooked up with her dead-end uncle Curtis (Ice Cube) to spend time with after school, he begins teaching her football.

It turns out she's got a knack for the game, and uncle Curtis encourages her to try out for the team at school. Before long, Jasmine is the QB of the high school team, leading them to a winning season despite having to overcome public attitudes about a girl playing football.

Support from Comedians

As is often the case with sports movies (for whatever the reason), The Longshots features supporting performances by a couple of comedians: Garrett Morris, one of Saturday Night Live's original Not Ready for Prime Time Players, and stand-up comic Earthquake. Neither is given a whole lot to do, but both make the most of their limited screen time. Morris plays the town preacher and conscience; he's given one strong scene near the end of the film where he rallies the whole town into taking pride and giving itself a face lift.

It's one of the better scenes in a movie that's confused as to what it's about Morris's "town pride" speech is only of too many themes. A movie about a young girl overcoming obstacles and becoming a star quarterback would seem to be enough, but The Longshots doesn't really spend too much time on it.

It throws in sub-plots about abandonment issues and reliving the past and finding new dreams and, yes, taking pride in one's home town. Director Fred Durst (who, in an interesting bit of trivia, used to be the singer in the rap-metal outfit Limp Bizkit) wants us too feel good about pi]everything, and loses sight of the central theme in the process.

Comedian Earthquake -- who can be one of the funniest stand-ups around when he's on his game -- gets an even smaller role as a member of the town's peanut gallery. You know the kind of character I'm talking about; he's one of two guys who are at all of the high school football games, even when the team is no good, and who exist to provide funny commentary on pretty much everything that happens. He gets what few laughs there are in the film, but one can only imagine how funny he might have been if the gloves were really taken off. This is, after all, a PG-rated "family" film.

The Final Word

The Longshots isn't a bad film, just a forgettable one. Its heart is in the right place and it contains some good messages (perhaps too many, actually), but fails to distinguish itself from other inspirations sports films. That's too bad; it's got a unique subject, an excellent setting (not far from my hometown in Illinois) and some good performances by two under-appreciated comedians. Unfortunately, even they aren't able to save it from being pretty standard stuff. Earthquake registers more in his one scene in Clerks 2, and fans of Garrett Morris are better off seeking out his excellent turn in Michael Polish's forgotten 2001 film, Jackpot. Those films do a better job of showing what these two guys are capable of.