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Director : Steve Carr
Producer : Robert Simonds
Screenwriter : Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Starring : Martin Lawrence, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Horatio Sanz, Breckin Meyer, Megan Mullally, Patrick Warburton, Oren Williams
This summer will have no fewer than three movies featuring a band of misfit
kids playing sports. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. If people had a
problem with Hollywood repeating the same thing, the box office slump would
have started with Jaws II. What moviegoers should be upset about is when the
original recipe isn’t altered in any way. Though Kicking & Screaming was an
average movie, think how awful it would have been minus Will Farrell’s soccer
dad rage. And you know Billy Bob Thornton is going to bring something funky to
The Bad News Bears.
With Rebound, the newest sports and children comedy, audiences have every right
to be upset. The recipe not only hasn’t been changed, it’s been left in the
oven far too long. Esteemed and volatile college basketball coach Roy McCormack
(Martin Lawrence) is thrown out of the league after an incident involving his
renowned temper, a basketball, and a dead bird. Looking for a way to look good
while the offers roll in, Roy coaches the basketball team at his old junior
high school.
Roy has a long road to hoe. The team can’t shoot, can’t play defense, and may
even have trouble breathing. After being shut out 109-0, Roy begins to care. It’
s not out of any concern for the players, mind you. Getting blown out by triple
digits doesn’t look good on the resume. So, after some recruiting and some
organized practices, wouldn’t you know, the team starts winning! And wouldn’t
you know, the kids learn about teamwork! And wouldn’t you know, Roy starts to
love the ragamuffins! And wouldn’t you know…
That’s the big flaw in Rebound -- you know it, all of it. The plot is an
updated, lifeless version of Hoosiers, and it proceeds like a “choose your own
adventure” story where the answers are given for you. As for the characters,
you’ve seen these people a thousand times before, and as recently as a month
ago. Exchange the kids in Kicking & Screaming with the kids in Rebound and you
don’t know the difference. (In fact, one of the actors, Steven Anthony
Lawrence, was in both.)
The adults aren’t any better crafted than the kids, and their involvement in
the movie is just as predictable. There’s a love interest for Roy which goes
like this: girl hates boy, boy flirts with girl, girl sees boy isn’t such a bad
guy, audience does collective Marty Feldman-esque eye roll. I lost track of how
many inspiring speeches Roy gave to the kids. It was probably between six and a
billion.
I don’t think anyone buying a ticket for Rebound is expecting the basketball
equivalent of Citizen Kane, but director Steve Carr, the writers, and Lawrence
could have shaken things up. This would have been an opportune time for
Lawrence to let loose circa 1995, to do what Farrell did in Kicking &
Screaming, instead of acting as if the shooting schedule ran into his dinner
reservations. The writers could have jettisoned some useless adult characters,
and let us know the kids better. I would have loved for Megan Mullally’s
principal to have more screen time with Lawrence. They could have clashed over
the school’s lack of amenities and lack of funds, with sass dripping from their
fangs. Carr and his crew stick to the recipe. There’s no sass, plenty of boring
characters, and no chance.
Hey #37, you're hogging the frame.
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" Grim "
Rating: PG, 2005