Champions

Veteran director Bobby Farrelly's warm basketball dramedy "Champions" (remaking Spain's 2018 "Campeones") twists an over-used theme to charming effect. Thru impersonal surliness coach Woody Harrelson's career's slumped to being Ernie Hudson's assistant at a minor Iowa team - which he's fired as, then arrested, then forced via community service to coach Cheech Marin's team of learning disabled misfits inc Kevin Iannucci, Madison Tevlin (hilarious) & James Day Keith. Clichés of course ensue, but Mark Rizzo's writing blends them in well, and support from the likes of Kaitlin Olson (so good) & Matt Cook add fine polish. It's fun, uplifting and inspiring.

Now, when I sat down to watch the 2023 movie "Champions" from director Bobby Farrelly, I was sort of expecting that I would be in for a good movie. Why? Well, the movie's synopsis just has that to it, the concept of the storyline here it just is something that you can't help to take to heart.

And I will say that writers Mark Rizzo, Javier Fesser and David Marqués didn't disappoint. The script for the movie was every bit as entertaining as it was heartwarming and beautiful. I was genuinely entertained by this movie from start to end. Sure, it was predictable, but the storyline just worked on many levels.

And the cast ensemble in the movie was good. Of course I was familiar with the likes of Woody Harrelson, Kaitlin Olson, Cheech Marin and Ernie Hudson. But the movie definitely had a lot of other good acting performances to it. All members of The Friends basketball team here were putting on some rather real and lovable performances.

If you can't enjoy a movie such as "Champions", then I don't really know what to say. I warmly recommend you to watch "Champions", especially if you enjoy a movie that sinks right in and sits with you for some time. This is definitely a feel-good movie.

My rating of "Champions" lands on a well-deserved seven out of ten stars.

Comedy, Drama, Heart Warming. This film ticks all the boxes. Has you laughing, has you cheering, has you annoyed and gets you gripped.

Managed to get to an advance screening of this with my 11 year old boy and we were both unsure of what we was about to watch, was it a comedy, was it an underdog story, was it a drama, was it a sports film and we were both amazed at what was a well spent hour and half. It was all of the above. We laughed, we teared up, we were engrossed in it all. The acting is superb the jokes are both laugh out loud and chuckle to yourself. You love the characters at times you hate them at times and you enjoy the ride.

It's not going to win any Oscars and it's not going to get rave reviews but if you want to escape from the troubles of life and have a damn good time you can't go wrong with seeing this.

Oh, and Woody plays the role perfectly.

Another sports comedy film I thought to myself, well, was I pleasantly surprised how enjoyable this little gem was. It actually had many laugh out loud moments, even a few rolling on the floor laughing moments, but it also had tons of heartwarming moments. Literally all casting and performances were spot on, and kudos to Harrelson for the excellent portrayal of his character. The directing was on point, but the writing had some dragged out scenes that made the 124 min runtime feel much longer. A faster pace and/or some scene trimming would've gone a long way, but nevertheless, the story had great cohesion and flow to it. If you're looking for a movie that will tear you up - both through humor and heart, this is a must see. It's a well deserved 8/10 from me.

Champions follows the tried and tested formula for most underdog sports movies, offering a nice reminder of how fun and enjoyable it is to watch a great feel good film that's jokes mostly land and uses it's accessible nature to inform and educate as well as entertain.

After a few years of supporting performances, it's great to see Woody Harrelson back in a lead role, flawed but still likeable and always charming. Kaitlin Olson thankfully isn't wasted and gets plenty of screen time and depth.

However, the films strongest aspect is the friends (and title characters) themselves, always a joy to watch and the film wisely gives them to time to shine on their own a few times, proving they're just as funny and talented.

Robert Farrelly swaps genres just as well as his brother did with 2018's Green Book, balancing the humour and heartfelt moments really well, keeping the film moving at a nice place with a fair few montages and plenty of needle drops (maybe too many) to make it more enjoyable.