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The Longest Yard is a remake of the 1974 comedy-drama of the same name, and the 2001 Brit-flick Mean Machine remake of that. The plot follows the exploits of Paul Crewe (Adam Sandler), an ex-pro footballer who falls out with his wife, and finds himself doing time for drink-driving. Once there, the sadistic warden gives Crewe the job of raising a team of convicts to play the guards at American football. Crewe enlists the help of his friend Caretaker (Chris Rock), and fellow inmate Nate Scarborough (Burt Reynolds) to make a team capable of destroying the guards, obviously with Crewe as the star quarter-back. With a tried and tested formula, Sandler and co. have to have tried hard to make the film enjoyable. Sandler gives a convincing performance as a quarterback, as does Rock with the role of team manager, but Reynolds (who stared in the original) fails to convince, turning in an altogether poor performance from the man who was once king of the big screen. The Longest Yard is laugh out loud funny on occasions and, despite some shameful product placement and (once you've seen the first two versions) some of the same old jokes, the movie still stands up as a film worth watching. Not as serious as the original, and not as funny as Mean Machine, it falls somewhere in the middle of the two. James Cocks |
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The Longest Yard