The Longest Yard remake
is a nice movie, packed to the brim with actors and celebrities we all know
(which led to its huge production cost). But if you’ve been privileged to see the
original 1974 version, you might not think highly of this remake, as
it’s essentially the same script with a different cast.
The changes in
this remake that I do welcome are:
- The comedy—it was turned up a notch, and Chris Rock
playing the caretaker was a great addition.
- The removal of the brutality toward women that Paul
"Wrecking" Crewe showed in the original, starring Burt Reynolds
as Crewe.
That said,
there’s one thing I felt shouldn’t have been added: the replacement of dark
comedy with plain family-friendly comedy. To me, this caused the movie to lose
some of its flavor. They wanted this remake to be something you can see with
your teenagers, and not just be adult focused. I guess with the cast in it,
they were aiming for a good box office outing.
Despite that, I
enjoyed the movie and even bought the DVD at the time. The plot is similar to
the original.
A retired
football player, Paul "Wrecking" Crewe (Adam Sandler), gets himself
locked up for drunk driving and assaulting two police officers. In prison, the
warden wants him to help the semi-pro football team he’s in charge of, so they
can win the semi-pro competition against other prisons.
The problem is,
Crewe just wants to serve his time and leave, not realizing that in prison,
things operate by a different set of rules. After some painful persuasion,
Crewe agrees and has to create a team from his fellow convicts. The plan is for
the guards to play against them and dominate, boosting their morale. But little
do the guards know, Crewe and his team of coaches have other plans.
The movie wasn’t
well-received by critics. Another issue I had was with some of the Black
actors. Other than Chris Rock and Nelly, every other Black actor in the project
felt over-the-top. They overdid the race angle, and their attitudes were just
too much. I think these elements were added to make the movie funnier, but in
the end, they came off as annoying and fake.
Should you see
the original or the remake?
Well, it totally depends on you. I’ve tried to highlight the differences
between the two, but in my opinion, I enjoyed the
original more.
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