THE LONGEST YARD (Theatrical Release USA 2005)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 3.4|5.0 Starsììì

The Longest Yard—a re-make of the 1974 film, The Longest Yard, with Burt Reynolds—stars Adam Sandler as Paul Crewe, a former football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s a good sports comedy that includes Chris Rock as Paul Crewe’s friend, Caretaker, as well as real-life athletes—Bill Goldberg, Bill Rowanowski, Terry Crews, Steve Austin, Bob Sapp, Brian Bosworth, Kevin Nash, Michael Irvin, and Dalip Singh Rana. Unnecessary, sexually suggestive themes detract from the story’s inherent entertainment value.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

Former football player, Paul Crewe has a complaining girlfriend Lena (Courteney Cox). He steals Lena’s 2005 Bentley Continental and deliberately totals it to get even with her complaints about him missing a party to watch a football game and getting drunk. He earns a prison sentence and finds himself coerced into training prisoners needing football training. Paul Crewe with the help of Caretaker and another college football player, Nate Scarborough (Burt Reynolds), trains them and the story becomes ‘losers’ work hard and become intimidating winners.

Additional Thanks

Good Work for Director Peter Segal. Thank you to Executive Producers Barry Bernardi, Allen Covert, David Gale, Tim Herlihy, Albert S. Ruddy, Adam Sandler, Van Toffler, and Michael Ewing for making the film possible. Additional Characters/Cast include: Megget (Nelly), Deacon Moss (Michael Irvin), Errol Dandridge (Walter Williamson), Battle (Bill Goldberg), Cheeseburger Eddy (Terry Crews), Switcoski (Bob Sapp), and Guard Dunham (Steve Austin).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Yes. The film densely packs unforgettable characters into unforgettable scenes to create above-board sports entertainment.

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers