Reviews

If you want a funny and entertaining movies with some good characters and good moments, you could certainly do a lot worse. This is a classic rags-to-riches sports movie that follows a fairly common formula of an underdog rising up to take on a big challenge. However, unlike many other sports movies, we are not meant to like the main character from the beginning. Kevin James' character is shown right away as an example of everything that is wrong with being an uncaring educator. He then realizes the err of his ways and tries to find redemption, and that is when the story takes off.

The premise of him fighting to raise money for a noble cause is great. But you really need to suspend reality for the story to make any sense at all. First of all, schools do not accept donations for pay for a single teacher's salary. And if they did, that means Kevin James needs to keep donating his fighting profits for the rest of Henry Winkler's career to really make a difference. And it is not just Winkler's job that is about to be axed, it is the entire music program. So just raising money for one man's job will be a drop in the bucket.

Another ridiculous part of the movie is when Joe Rogan (playing himself) has the whole band flown out to play a one-minute song for the match. Hey Joe, this is a financially strapped school about to lose its music program. If you want to make a difference, don't fly out every member for a tiny performance. Donate that money to the school! Maybe I am a cynic, but that really bothered me.

While those parts of the movie were ridiculous, the overall experience really is quite good. Obviously your expectations coming into this movie would be to just enjoy yourself and have some laughs for 90 minutes. In that respect, this movie delivers.

If you like sports documentaries, you are going to love this series. Most people are hesitant to go into a documentary not knowing the subjects, but the filmmakers do a great job introducing you to what you need to know right away. Overall, this a great documentary that is very well put together, but the subjects can certainly aggravate you.

East Mississippi Community College, which you have probably never heard of, is the focus of this documentary. The head coach obviously gets a lot of air time, as well as some of the star players (a few quarterbacks and some other intriguing characters, of course) and their academic adviser. There is no real "star" of the documentary, but the person most people rooting for is that academic adviser, Brittany Wagner. She is the only character who seems to fully understand her role at the college and give her best effort in a meaningful way.

The head coach, Buddy Stephens, is like a combination of every negative stereotype of head football coaches. He is loud, overweight, aggressive, mean, and unable or unwilling to understand that kids make mistakes on the football field. In one instance, he reams out a player for missing a block, reams him out some more, then comes back for a third reaming and pushes the kid. The kid says to the coach that he didn't need to push him, which makes Coach Stephens bench him for the rest of the game. Coach Stephens is your classic bully football coach who sees no problem is publicly humiliating his players for even the most minor of offenses.

Of course there are players on the team who are highlighted as well. All have a different story that lead them to a community college, and seem to really have the same goal in mind: getting out of there to someplace better. Skipping classes and not listening are recurring themes. Some players say they are all about the team, but do not sound genuine about it. Overall they want to win, of course, but seem more interested in where that winning will take them.

The cinematography is beautiful. The setup and layout are beautiful. These filmmakers really know what they are doing. If you love sports and are interested in how athletics have affect human emotions, this series is highly recommended.