THE POPCORN REEL FILM REVIEW/"The Longshots"
For A Female Footballer, It's Gird-and-Long In The School Of Hard Football
Knocks
By
Omar P.L. Moore/August 22,
2008
Ice Cube stars as Curtis, a former high
school football star and uncle of Keke Palmer's character Jasmine Plummer in
"The Longshots", directed by Fred Durst. In real life, Jasmine Plummer was
the first female quarterback to play in the Pop Warner Football Tournament.
(Photo: Tracy Bennett/The Weinstein Company)
To the disbelief of some-- perhaps even many -- Fred Durst of the rock group
Limp Bizkit competently directs "The Longshots", a light drama which becomes a
conventional sports film. Mr. Durst "rocks the set", so go the lyrics to
his group's "Take A Look Around" (from "Mission: Impossible II"), and he could
have done far, far worse with this film, which comes just in time for the start
of next month's National Football League season. Like a few other prior
football-related films that open around this time of year ("Invincible",
"Gridiron Gang", The Game Plan"), "The Longshots", which opened across the U.S.
and Canada today, is on one level designed to get movie fans ready for the
National Football League season, but on another it is made to make audiences
marvel at a true story. ("Game Plan" wasn't a true story however.)
Jasmine Plummer became the first female to play quarterback in the Pop Warner
Football League. A girl amongst boys, she excelled in the position and
took the Minden Browns of Louisiana all the way to the championship game.
Jasmine is played by Keke Palmer (of "Akeelah And The Bee"), who depicts a
steely kid whose absentee father makes selective appearances in her life after
abandonment of Jasmine at an early age. Ice Cube, who has transformed his
image from streetwise hipster to family man, is Curtis, Jasmine's uncle, a
former high school football star. Curtis, a man living in modest
circumstances, builds an uneasy relationship with his niece after being asked to
collect her from school each day by his sister Claire (Takia Smith) who is
overwhelmed with multiple responsibilities. Nick Santora's script makes
the tried-and-true connection between uncle and niece: sports. Football is
the bridge connecting Curtis and Jasmine -- and before too long, Jasmine is
tossing footballs with the greatest of ease. Before long she is brought on
to Minden's all-boys team and she shows the opposite sex more than a thing or
two.
Given the scheme of all things sports movies, "The Longshots" is one of the most
predictable movies of the year but it is a sweet, modest story full of nice
contributions from Ice Cube, Miss Palmer (a fast-rising star who has a great
future ahead of her if she continues to play positive, confident characters she
inhabits so very well) and Matt Craven, who plays Minden's coach. The
script joins the story of Jasmine's family and the discord within it to the
story of the initial discord of the football family in which Jasmine breaks the
sex barrier. These two stories are good enough but could have been
amplified a little more to enable a solid connection to each other, though the
film isn't incoherent without the tightening of some of the script's plot
points. The opening 30 minutes are particularly strong and the acting is
effective. The lighthearted aspects of Jasmine's initial ingratiation into
Minden Football coupled with the slurs and derision by hostile male counterparts
are well contrasted. Once the film moves squarely into gridiron territory
"The Longshots" gets predictable.
Still, "The Longshots" is a self-contained gem -- full of laughs and characters
who can't face their fears or fully address their issues -- at least to a
certain extent. That said, the film is not a referendum on character
pathos -- it merely shows how some families fit together more cohesively than
others do. One of the other very likable things about the film is that
there's a self-containment and humbleness about the film's tone. Conrad W.
Hall's cinematography exemplifies this well, muting the colors and draining them
to an almost monochromatic, classic feel. Mr. Durst directs the film with
a nostalgic approach, showing a changing of the guard (a young girl doing a
young boy's job) and an appreciation for equanimity. One can hardly go
wrong with "The Longshots" -- it has plenty of heart and spirit.
"The Longshots" is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for
some thematic elements, mild language and brief rude humor. The film's
running time is one hour and 34 minutes.
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