Hacker Cinema
The Longest Yard
2005 · Film · 113 min
Directed by Peter Segal
Disgraced pro football quarterback Paul Crewe lands in a Texas federal penitentiary, where manipulative Warden Hazen recruits him to advise the institution's football team of prison guards. Crewe suggests a tune-up game which lands him quarterbacking a crew of inmates in a game against the guards. Aided by incarcerated ex-NFL coach and player Nate Scarborough, Crewe and his team must overcome not only the bloodthirstiness of the opposition, but also the corrupt warden trying to fix the game against them.
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While we're talking Ebert, my favourite was his review of The Longest Yard (the remake, with Adam Sandler). The balance that it strikes - to both respect a movie for being entertainment, while also acknowledging that movies (and art) can be so much more than entertainment, is something I feel like a lot of critics (and people) struggle with.
> I often practice a generic approach to film criticism, in which the starting point for a review is the question of what a movie sets out to achieve. "The Longest Yard" more or less achieves what most of the people attending it will expect. Most of its audiences will be satisfied enough when they leave the theater, although few will feel compelled to rent it on video to share with their friends. So, yes, it's a fair example of what it is. I would however be filled with remorse if I did not urge you to consider the underlying melancholy of this review and seek out a movie you could have an interesting conversation about. I have just come from 12 days at Cannes during which several times each day I was reminded that movies can enrich our lives, instead of just helping us get through them.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-longest-yard-2005