The Longest Yard

For starters, I have not seen the 1974 version of "The Longest Yard" so don't ask for a comparison. I wish I would have seen the original first to better gauge where the 2005 release is coming from. Suffice it to say, when I go to see a movie starring Adam Sandler and Chris Rock, I expect to laugh a lot more than I did.

Sandler stars as Paul Crewe, a former pro quarterback who was banned from football after shaving points. After breaking his probation, Crewe is sent to a decrepit state prison in Texas, where all things are dominated by football. The warden (James Cromwell) has specifically requested Crewe as a prisoner in order to take his prison guard football team back to championship status. After quite a bit of physical abuse Crewe relents and agrees to put together a team of convicts to serve as a practice team for the guards. Helping him in the recruiting process is the Caretaker (Rock) and former Heisman recipient Nate Scarborough (Burt Reynolds, who played Sandler's role in the '74 version).

"Yard" is actually an equal balance of solid comedy and surprising drama. Crewe's battle to overcome his past, while at the heart of the story, brings the comedy to a halt. The laughs come less from the two comedians and more from the supporting cast of characters. The football scenes are never dull, but the way the story plays out, especially when involving ESPN2, becomes less and less believable. Overall, the back-and-forth of comedy to drama and back was not what I went looking for, nor was it what I thought I was paying to see. In my opinion, "The Longest Yard" falls short. I give it a B-.

"The Longest Yard" is rated PG-13 with a running time of 110 minutes.