The Comebacks (2007)

Director:

Tom Brady

Writers (WGA):

Ed Yeager (screenplay) &
Joey Gutierrez (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 October 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sport

Tagline:

Keep your eye on the ball.

Plot:

A comedy that spoofs the inspirational sports movies, The Comebacks tells the story of an out-of-luck coach, Lambeau Fields, who takes a rag-tag bunch of college misfits and drives them towards the football championships. In the process, this life-long loser discovers that he is a winner after all by redeeming himself, saving his relationship with his family and friends, and finding that there is indeed, no "I" in "team"!

Plot Keywords:

Coach | Football | Championship | Sports Team | Failure

Cast

David Koechner	...	Lambeau "Coach" Fields
Carl Weathers	...	Freddie Wiseman
Melora Hardin	...	Barb Fields
Matthew Lawrence	...	Lance Truman
Brooke Nevin	...	Michelle Fields
Nick Searcy	...	Mr. Truman
George Back	...	Buddy Boy
Noureen DeWulf	...	Jizminder Featherfoot
Jesse Garcia	...	Jorge Juanson
Jackie Long	...	Trotter
Robert Ri'chard	...	Aseel Tare
Martin Spanjers	...	Randy Randinger
Jermaine Williams	...	IPod
Finesse Mitchell	...	Titans Coach
Will Arnett	...	Mailman

Also Known As:

Sports Movie (UK) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 on appeal for crude and sexual content throughout and some drug material

Runtime:

USA:84 min | Germany:88 min | 107 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (re-rating on appeal) | Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 | New Zealand:R13 | Australia:MA | Netherlands:12 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

California State University - 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton, California, USA

Company:

Fox Atomic

Trivia:

Not screened for critics.

Quotes:

Lambeau "Coach" Fields: Yeah, this is great. Middle of Podunk, nowhere. How am I gonna find an All-American quarterback?
God: If you build it, he will come. If you build it, he will come...
Lambeau "Coach" Fields: Who will come?
God: Your father. Your dead father.
Lambeau "Coach" Fields: My father's not dead. I just spoke with him this morning.
God: You got to be shittin' me. Is this 314 Bentley road?
Lambeau "Coach" Fields: No this is 314 Bentley drive.
God: That damn Google Maps. Anyway, the quarterback you're looking for is on the baseball field.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Jerry Maguire (1996)

Soundtrack:

Giddy Up Lil' Pony

Not great, but not horrible

It is hard to really rate movies like this. It is obviously not going to be anything classic. It is probably going to be pretty much forgettable. So what if any redeeming qualities might this have? Why waste your time? Well all I can say is that, it is what it is! There are many amusing moments, there are a couple funny moments. It is a mildly amusing comedy that hits the obvious laughs. And in that it is a decent movie. It makes fun of every sports movie it can think of, and most of the jokes are average at best. But on a few occasions there are some very funny prop comedy moments.

The actors all do a reasonable job with what they have to work with. The obvious jokes don't ask them to be exceptional. It just asked them to deliver the lines and try not to laugh at how ridiculous the lines are. And they all do a good job of being ridiculous, right in step with the movie.

It is a fun movie that does not take itself serious at all. No it is not "Airplane" or "Dumb&Dumber" type of classic flick. But if you compare it to something like "Not another teen movie" or any of the newer super-spoofs it holds its own. It is certainly better than "Meet the Spartans" or "Epic Movie" spoofs.

I thought Brooke Nevin was fun to watch. She is beautiful to start with, but beyond that she is very good. She delivers with a subtle but memorable performance. I'd like to see her more in the future I think she has a quality that comes through on screen. The rest of the cast is solid, and Mr. Lawrence is pretty good. He's a much better actor than his older brother if that is really saying much. And the always fetching Melora Hardin does her thing as she always does, this time as Coach Fields' wife. She is such an underrated talent.

The movies is filled with cameos from recognizable faces from both sports and movies. Just about every cameo can be traced back to someone with a much bigger resume than the role. It's fun stuff.

All in all, if you are looking for intelligent entertainment you won't enjoy this. But if you are willing to leave your mind at the door and just enjoy the stupidity, the movies has a lot of fun stuff going on to keep you interested for 90 minutes or so.