Over the lifespan of this blog, what began as me going after Happy Madison films for the sake of cheap shots has gradually resulted in me reconnecting with how much Adam Sandler basically ruled my world as a kid. There’s just something about his socially-awkward, hair-trigger, good-natured schtick that still finds ways to warm my neurodivergent heart. Not that that really applies here, though, as this film has Sandler in one of his more dramatic roles, and as the last few years have shown, he’s as much in his element here as he is with his more memetic deliveries and one-liners.
Playing an assistant coach in the NBA, he takes on a mentor role towards Juancho Hernangómez as street baller Bo Cruz, and the pairing brings a lot of dramatic potential in both of them. In Sandler, it’s an odd but fitting sensation of coming full circle, as if he’s now taking the place Henry Winkler did opposite him in The Waterboy. He wields a similar willingness to look past the anger issues to bring out the inner potential, like a kind of anger management ‘pay-it-forward’ situation, which is something I’ve always liked about Sandler’s comedic work. And in Hernangómez, who hasn’t done acting prior to this, does well on his own, next to Sandler, and especially opposite María Botto and Ainhoa Pillet as his mother and daughter respectively. The sheer joy on his and their faces as he jumps into a pool put a big goofy smile on mine.
The story itself is quite standard underdog sports movie stuff, with both the main player and the coach working on the court to redeem their past mistakes, but credit to the presentation for still making it resonant through that familiarity. The game scenes are well-shot and edited (even with the three credited main editors on-board in Tom Costain, Brian Robinson, and Keiko Deguchi), and the soundtrack has got some tasty Hip Hop cuts on it, starting from Philly artists like Beanie Sigel, Freeway, Eve, and the legendary Roots crew, and sprawling out from there. On top of that, there’s a plethora of cameos from the basketball and Hip Hop games in here, which makes for one of the better examples of how much Happy Madison love to inject celebrity faces into their productions.
While the ending feels a bit disjointed, and the bulk of the film isn’t all that special within this genre, it’s still a decent reiteration of what makes that genre work. I’ll admit that sports movies aren’t necessarily my thing, save for some rare and usually genre-spliced exceptions, but just from the strength of the lead performances and it still making those familiar emotional beats work, I’d say it’s worth checking out for fans of sports flicks. Or hell, even for fans of Sandler’s more serious work.
No comments:
Post a Comment