Movie Review for The Comebacks (2007)

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The Comebacks

Review #550 of 365
Movie Review of The Comebacks (2007) [PG-13] 85 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $3.00
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 22 October 2007
Time: 5:10 pm
DVD Release Date: 8-Jan-08 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer

Soundtrack: Download now from Christopher Lennertz - The Comebacks - or - order the CD below

Directed by: Tom Brady (The Hot Chick)
Screenplay by : Ed Yeager ("Still Standing") • Joey Gutierrez ("Still Standing") • () story by John Aboud, Michael Colton, Adam Jay Epstein, and Andrew Jacobson

Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
David Koechner (The Brothers Solomon) • Carl Weathers (Eight Crazy Nights) • Melora Hardin ("The Office") • Matthew Lawrence (The Hot Chick) • Brooke Nevin ("The 4400") • Nick Searcy (Flicka) • Noureen DeWulf (Ocean's Thirteen) • Jesse Garcia (Quinceañera) • Jackie Long (Idlewild) • Jermaine Williams (Stomp the Yard) • Will Arnett (The Brothers Solomon) • Dax Shepard (Let's Go to Prison) • Eric Christian Olsen (License to Wed) • Frank Caliendo ("Mad TV")

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Click to read the spoiler points for The Comebacks
Billed as a spoof of the greatest sports movies from the producers of the Wedding Crashers, The Combacks is marginally worthy of the first claim and as for the second, well, mentioning producers as a film's only reason to be seen might be a bit dubious in the first place, and after the credits rolled might be more of a disclaimer in the future. The story roughly speaking is about the comeback of a hapless football team of misfits call The Comeback and coached by a complete loser of a coach named Lambeau Fields (David Koechner). Somebody should have told David Koechner this was a comedy because he's as moribund and morose a football coach as has ever been seen. At the same time, somebody should have gotten to the writing team and story people and told them the same thing. Could anything be worse than a hapless story about a hapless team making a hapless comeback? Yes, this film. Actually, British Parliament sessions are more entertaining. Coach Fields is new to this small town Texas (filmed at Cal State Fullerton) College, and he must bring them a winning season by game two. His star quarterback is a butterfingered baseball player named Lance Truman (Matthew Lawrence) whose female impersonating father worries endlessly about the teasing he takes at work from his fellow impersonators regarding his son's inability to hang on to a ball. Not to worry though, because the coach's daughter will fix him up by wearing a special bra with football shaped cups—the idea being once he gets his hands on these he'll never let go. Well, films like this are supposed to be filled with clichés. It's a spoof. There should be the "if you build it, he will come" lines. Unfortunately, the film just isn't very funny. It has a shortage of real talent on and off the screen and only some slightly funny cameos from Will Arnett, Dax Shepard, Andy Dick, Eric Christian Losen, and Frank Caliendo—were these cameos or favors?

Fans of movieEVERYday.com know that I love movies, and I always try to find at least some good in them. Well, I delayed writing by a day to think about it. Nothing yet has come to mind. Theoretically, Matthew Lawrence isn't that bad in the film (minus his locker room hot pants dance numbers which were quite simply unforgiveable), and maybe the IPod (Jermaine Williams) character wasn't too bad. In every other way, this film was utterly forgettable and probably the largest waste of producers' money in the comedy genre of the last decade. It's difficult if not impossible to imagine how anyone could have thought this was going to be a good idea for a film, and the results speak for themselves. A good spoof film, like back in the days of Airplane! or even the recent memory populated by the films of the Scary Movie franchise, is funny, clever, inventive, and creative. This film was none of these with some hot sauce. If that made no sense, well, sit back and join the club. P.S. This is October, officially the fall movie season, not February. Had this film come out in February, it might not have stood out as much like a sore thumb.


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Cast Members
David Koechner • Carl Weathers • Melora Hardin
Matthew Lawrence • Brooke Nevin • Nick Searcy
Noureen DeWulf • Jesse Garcia • Jackie Long
Jermaine Williams • Frank Caliendo • Dax Shepard
Director
Tom Brady
Writers
Ed Yeager • Joey Gutierrez

DVD
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Review-lite The Comebacks (2007) [max of 150 words]
Well, you always have two choices in life when it comes to a movie: see it or not. This would be a not.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'll tell you what...Matthew Lawrence is h-o-t! I'd see this movie a million times or buy the DVD just to see him dancing around.

15 November, 2007 18:47

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