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The Longshots (2008)
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Reviews Counted:65
Fresh:26
Rotten:39
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: The Longshots means well, but it's a largely formulaic affair, rarely deviating from the inspirational sports movie playbook.
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Genre: Comedies
US Box Office: $11,389,715
Synopsis: Based on the true story of the first female quarterback to play in a Pop Warner football game, THE LONGSHOTS is an inspiring underdog story of personal triumph and small-town values. The film opens... Based on the true story of the first female quarterback to play in a Pop Warner football game, THE LONGSHOTS is an inspiring underdog story of personal triumph and small-town values. The film opens in down-on-its-luck Minden, Illinois, where 11-year-old Jasmine Plummer (Keke Palmer) copes with the pain of an absentee father and her classmates' constant antagonism. Jasmine's fortunes begin to change with the emergence of her uncle, Curtis (Ice Cube). Once a rising football star but now out of work, Curtis dreams of escaping Minden for the sunny promise of Miami. But when he sees Jasmine's gift for throwing the football, Curtis helps her overcome self-doubt and skepticism to join Minden's woeful Pop Warner team. Inspired by Jasmine's skill and toughness, and with the addition of Curtis as a coach, the team earns a spot in the Pop Warner Super Bowl in Miami. But as the national media swoop in to cover the team's story, Jasmine and Curtis come face-to-face with their biggest obstacle: the reappearance of Jasmine's father. Will Curtis and Jasmine lead the team to glory, or will Jasmine's father once again tear apart a loving family? Directed by Limp Bizkit front man Fred Durst, the film features excellent performances by Ice Cube and Keke Palmer (AKEELAH AND THE BEE), the youngest person ever nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award. Grounded in real struggles and real people, THE LONGSHOTS eschews typical Hollywood theatrics to tell an ultimately authentic tale of overcoming great odds by finding greatness in ourselves and each other. [More]
Starring: Ice Cube, Keke Palmer, Dash Mihok, Tasha Smith
Starring: Ice Cube, Keke Palmer, Dash Mihok, Tasha Smith, Jill Marie Jones, Matt Craven
Director: Fred Durst
Director: Fred Durst
Screenwriter: Nick Santora, Doug Atchison
Producer: Ice Cube, Matt Alvarez, Nick Santora
Composer: John Swihart
Studio: MGM
Reviews for The Longshots
This is your basic, generic sports underdog movie that plays very much like an afterschool special. That's not to say it's all that bad, but one expects more when they're paying ten bucks on a Friday night.
Quite generic, even down to the same treacly musical score heard in every other inspirational sports movie.
...while The Longshots is far from original - much less first-class - it is effective in its own, middle-of-the-road way.
The guy who gifted the world Nookie is making movies these days, and much like the music he created with band Limp Bizkit, Durst's cinematic sensibilities are hackneyed, tiresome, and lack sorely needed rehearsal.
So how does the creative team behind The Longshots freshen up such a hackneyed, cliché-ridden franchise? The answer is that, despite a game effort, they don't.
Based on the real-life of Jasmine Plummer, this story ought to have all the heart and drama needed, but the onscreen version is too sloppy to even get the clichés right.
Ice Cube is good, but the story has been done so many times in so many better movies, there's little here to recommend.
Former Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst directs in a surprisingly dull fashion, and most of the characters, including Jasmine's mother and father, are numbingly one-dimensional.
Directed by Fred Durst (of the band "Limp Bizkit"), "The Longshots" is a cookie-cutter feel-good kid's movie that seems like it was made by some faulty gadget stuck on auto-pilot.
Unfortunately, director Fred Durst blends all of these time-honored components with the same skill level that he brought to the stage with his crappy band Limp Bizkit.
A feel-good family sports drama more likely to make the viewer feel sick from sugar overload.
The physical setting and particular racial group may be different, but you have seen these consciously life-affirming sports-family movies before, and this one doesn't disappoint in its by-the-book generic formula.
Cube and Durst have certainly survived worse career flops, but the chances of them working together again on a film? Let's just say it's a longshot.
Latest News for The Longshots
August 25, 2008:
Cube's Longshots Pay Off for Director Durst ![]()
Fred Durst knows no one expected him to trade in his backwards hat for a director's chair -- especially to helm a family film like "The Longshots" -- but the Limp Bizkit... More...
August 24, 2008:
Keke Palmer plays another underdog in sentimental family flick. ![]()
More...
August 21, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Death Race Shoots for Pole Position
The ancient studio ritual of dumping weak product into the late August box office has begun. Four new releases, most about failures trying to redeem themselves, hit the... More...
June 22, 2008:
Trailer Poster review ![]()
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