Directed By Bobby Farrelly

Starring – Woody Harrelson, Kaitlin Olson, Cheech Marin

The Plot – A former minor-league basketball coach (Harrelson) is ordered by the court to manage a team of players with intellectual disabilities. He soon realizes that despite his doubts, together, this team can go further than they ever imagined.

Rated PG-13 for strong adult language and crude/sexual reference

CHAMPIONS – Official Trailer [HD] – Only In Theaters March 10 – YouTube

POSITIVES

Like a majority of other Farelly-fronted films, “Champions’ bares with it an underlining dramatic heft that supplants some thoroughly responsible lessons and social commentary to the engagement, without downright compromising the tonal consistency of its very distinct personality. Being that this is a film surrounding characters with mental disabilities, Farrelly not only channels the many environmental treatment of these people, both with the brash and protectors, that simultaneously feed into the naive perception of their capabilities, but also takes ample time in fleshing each of these characters out extensively, proving that beneath the things that make us different, at the end of the day these are people with feelings and ambitions as determined as anyone. Is it slightly manipulative in this same aspect? Sure, but considering films like this, “The Peanut Butter Falcon” and “The Ringer” have done plenty to depict the charming and charismatic side of their populace, it keeps me from having a hateful bone in my body towards it, in turn persevering as fearless in its approach of honesty being its single best quality. Beyond this, the performances around the board are impactful, but especially Harrelson and Olson, who illustrate a complex dynamic between friends with benefits that looms hilariously over the heads of this team. Harrelson can never be blamed for sleeping through a role, and here once again elicits the energy and humiliation to material that often gets the best of him, outlining him as the same lovable lughead that we’ve come to expect from him in his career. Olson is perhaps the primary standout, supplanting a brashly biting enveloping to the character that unapologetically goes toe to toe with her male counterpart in terms of crudeness or ignorance, with raw tapped-into energy and confidence in her deliveries that continuously cement her as a thunderstorm before us. Supporting turns from Ernie Hudson, Cheech Marin, and especially these players give the film plenty of depth to balance the responsibilities off seamlessly, with the kids themselves receiving the most merit in comedic consistency in material that does them little to no favors in conception. As for the games themselves, there’s nothing special or cerebral in the movements of cinematography from C. Kim Miles, but the editing decision to supplant in-game scenes and sequences with long takes of playthroughs does help conjure believability in the actors-turned-athletes that evoke them, making it easy to follow along and even invest in with the talents of the aforementioned ensemble who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.

NEGATIVES

Where the film takes a bit of a tumble for me is in the conception of the screenplay, filled with an abundance of tropes and cliches so thick that you swear you’ve seen this film before, even when you know you haven’t. We of course have the band of misfits who start out as a losers, a troubled coach forced to make them winners, a humiliating loss in their first game, a sudden turnaround for no other reason than time spent between them, music montage overkill, and of course the big bad team they face at the end of the road. It’s like the film took notes from every Disney sports film from the 90’s, and assembled them together as scattered pieces that never merge to find its own unique voice, even leading to a climax in finale, that while full of stakes from the many intertwining subplots, is highly predictable once it prematurely shows its hand during a scene that overtly and obviously defines the term champions. The film is also far too long, running at two hours long, with many moments along the way feeling the extent of its length. It’s easy to see what’s vital to the integrity of the narrative, as well as what could easily be trimmed and categorized as deleted scenes on a home release, but what we’re given is the complete repetitious and redundant bigger picture, leaving us a film that takes a little too long to find its proper momentum, and then one with a new conflict introduced periodically to give it some kind of even temporary stakes along the way. Finally and most detrimental to the integrity of the engagement, the comedic material simply isn’t that funny. Sure, I did get a couple of laughs along the way, mostly in ironic fashion that inscribed double meaning to certain punchlines, but for the most part my experience fell flat, with the weakest and most obvious kinds of gross-out humor or observational gags feeling a bit too juvenile to properly move the meter on my brand of dark humor. The material itself frequently hint at an edginess to its PG-13 brand of appeal, with one big F-bomb and some sex humor included to effective results, but it’s confined too tightly to that aforementioned rating to the point that it feels like child material in an otherwise adult movie, and one that with an R-rating could’ve felt as unrestrained as something like “The Ringer”, where spontaneity wields more than a few hearty moments of laughter that required me to pause my first watch.

OVERALL
“Champions” is every sports movie you’ve ever seen. It’s a feel-good tale of lovable losers turned talented, with every cliche at its disposal. Though the merits of this complete and gifted ensemble don’t go unnoticed, primarily in the unrestrained emphasis of Olson’s energetic performance, or the sweet sincerity in its message to treat everyone with respect and kindness, the film is ultimately and unfortunately defined by the familiarity of other, better sports films that did it first, keeping Farrelly’s underdogs on the bench in a game they certainly belong in.

My Grade: 5/10 or D+