The Longest Yard (2005)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Peter Segal

Writers (WGA):

Albert S. Ruddy (story)
Tracy Keenan Wynn (1974 screenplay)

Release Date:

27 May 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

It was hard to put a team together... until they found out who they were playing.

Plot:

Prison inmates form a football team to challenge the prison guards.

Plot Keywords:

Warden | Prison | Convict | Coach | Prison Guard

Awards:

2 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Adam Sandler	...	Paul Crewe
Chris Rock	...	Caretaker
Burt Reynolds	...	Coach Nate Scarborough
Nelly	...	Megget
Michael Irvin	...	Deacon Moss
Walter Williamson	...	Errol Dandridge
Bill Goldberg	...	Battle
Terry Crews	...	Cheeseburger Eddy
Bob Sapp	...	Switowski
Nicholas Turturro	...	Brucie
Dalip Singh	...	Turley
Lobo Sebastian	...	Torres
Joey Diaz	...	Big Tony (as Joey 'Coco' Diaz)
Steve Reevis	...	Baby Face Bob
David Patrick Kelly	...	Unger

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, violence, language and drug references.

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Sweden:11 | Philippines:PG-13 | Hong Kong:IIA | Germany:12 | Argentina:13 | Brazil:16 | Finland:K-15 | UK:15 (DVD rating) | Iceland:L | Canada:PG | Malaysia:U | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 | Ireland:15A

Filming Locations:

Long Beach, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Edward Bunker's last film.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the fight breaks out in the first play of the game, a sniper is seen shouldering his rifle, and we hear the sound of a pump action shotgun being pumped.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lorenzo: I love that dress.
Lena: Of course you do, Lorenzo, you made it.

Movie Connections:

References The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Soundtrack:

Saturday Night Special

About As Bad A Mr. Deeds

Crewe was a football superstar back in the day, but cast a black eye on the sport when he sold out his team-mates. Then a drunk driving accident sends him to prison, but the thing is the Warden specifically requested he be sent to his prison. Now Crewe has been giving the duty of putting together a football team, full of the inmates. Recruiting is hard, until the inmates find out that they are playing the guards.

Let me just say that I've never seen the original, so my views on this film are not in comparison to it, but as a film on it's own. I'm sitting here asking myself if I should judge this film against other football films, or even other Adam Sandler films. I can't really do that with the latter because it's not like any other Sandler film. It seems that he has grown up out of the stupid jokes that involve him yelling a lot and hitting little kids. This seems to be a softer side, a side that wants to show that he is not just a comedian, but a money making star. If this is a side of Sandler that we will be seeing, then I want to shun him out of the business right now.

I've never seen "Punch Drunk Love" or "Spanglish", so I can't comment on those films, but other then the recent "Click", Sandler hasn't had a good, or even funny, film since The Waterboy. The Longest Yard, if I were to describe it in two words it would be, NOT FUNNY. Now I know it's not suppose to be a flat out comedy, but with comedic actors like Chris Rock and Adam Sandler, you would expect to maybe laugh every once and a while, this is not the case. Mr. Deeds was Sandler's worst film in his career (not including that boat one) and The Longest Yard seems to be giving it a run for it's money. I had a more enjoyable time watching Little Nicky then I did this.

The film is full of clichés. I was rolling my eyes when the mean prison guard gave Sandler the "you're okay" speech at the end, not to mention the useless and meaningless character of Chris Rock, who is only there for sympathy, only there to get a few tears, but it doesn't even work. It's sad really. Let me tell you this, just because there are stars in the remake that were in the original, does not make it "okay" or "good". Does having them in the movie signify some kind of blessing? Give me a break. I can see having wrestlers in the film to play football players and guardss, but they didn't add anything to it. No star value of "Hey, look who it is" because there are so many of them. Also, Nelly makes an appearance, yet another rapper trying to make it in Hollywood. Again, I'm asking myself, what's the purpose? Couldn't get real actors? So you try to reach out to the young crowd, "Hey look, it's NELLY kids."

Now after telling you that the film is full of stupid clichés, that it's not funny and that it tries to pass of rappers and wrestlers as actors, what else is there to tell? How about how it's not even a good football movie? Not once did I ever think that they would lose and not once did I ever think that any of this would ever actually happen. Never would the inmates be wondering around the prison at night. Basically you need to pass on this film, all it consists of is poor McDonald's jokes that never hit the mark. Go watch the original instead…and I haven't even seen it.