Just seen The Longest Yard tonight.
This is a re-make of the Burt Reynolds film about an ex-professional American Football player who gets put in prison. He is recruited by the warden to form a team from the inmates to give the guards' semi-professional game a pre-season practice game.
Burt Reynolds does appear in this film, but his former starring role is now played by Adam Sandler. Sandler plays his role well (if unspectacularly) and is assisted by a decent cast which includes Chris Rock. The story line is pretty much exactly what the original 1970s film had, with a few changes here and there.
As in the original film, you have to look at the other players to spot a few well known names. Steve Austin and Bill Goldberg (WWE wrestlers) and ex-NFL stars Brian Bosworth and Bill Romanowski feature too. Nelly (the rapper) does a decent (if undemanding) turn as the star Running Back, and Bob Sapp (PRIDE fighting star) appears too and is hilarious.
Is the film worth seeing? Yeah, I'd say so. I've seen the original film, and this one is on a par with it - each has their strong points and their weaknesses. The humour is far from politcally correct, but did provide quite a few laugh-out loud moments. It definitely helps if you know something about (and like) American Football. I would say it's more of a lad's film, and would make a good film to watch as part of a night out, or maybe to have on DVD to watch with a pizza and a few beers. I'd like to have it in my DVD collection.
I'd give it 7.5 out of 10.
http://www.longestyard.com/longestyard.php