Champions

It's a remake of Spanish film Campeones (2018), the Americanisation is possibly quite an easy cross over though due to the universal nature of the characters.

Making movies about people that are generally misunderstood can be difficult at the best of times so here the bunch of mentally challenged basketball players has a fine line to tread, one slip and its good message can be lost or maligned, I must admit I didn't think Bobby Farrelly would make such a good job of it.

Woody Harrelson plays Marcus, a minor league basketball coach but following a drunk driving charge he is ordered to do 90 days community service with a 'special' basketball team.

Coaching a misfit bunch of sportsmen isn't exactly new, here the intellectually challenged basketball team with dreams of making the special Olympics brings in a social message that hasn't been explored very much.

Marcus is a single man, a seasoned and good coach for ball skills but his lack of people skills has held him back, understanding his players is more important than ever, each player has his/her own disability, due to Down's Syndrome or brain injury for example, each player also has special abilities and Marcus is the one with learning difficulties of how to connect with them and people in general. With their new coach the 'Friends' basketball team go from strength to strength and make their way up the regional and national championship league, as they all progress, Marcus learns a lot about himself and also falls in love with the sister of one of the team.

The supporting cast add the glue that holds it all together making it heartwarming and a fun journey of discovery for all, the humour works well and didn't seem exploitative, or overly sentimental , it's more feel good than feel sorry, a worthwhile watch.

My Review-Champions My Rating. 7:10

Champions was a really pleasant surprise and very entertaining as I know nothing about basket ball beyond the Harlem Globetrotters and that catchy tune.

It's a familiar plot about a former disgraced baseball coach Marcus beautifully cast with Woody Harrelson in the lead resurrecting his career and self esteem.

Marcus after being charged with a drink driving charge is assigned to community service coaching a team of intellectually disadvantaged players.

Coach Marcus soon realises that this team simply called The Friends shows promise and his aloof rough tough exterior and ego soon begins to thaw .

Especially when the infectious personalities and warmth of this team simply named The Friends convinces him to take them further perhaps even to Special Olympic status .

Marcus also embarks on a casual romantic interest in one of the team members Johnny's sister Alex played delightfully by Kaitlin Olson .

This relationship contributes to both Alex and Marcus having to face some soul searching truths about each other and the direction their lives are heading .

Apart from Woody Harrelson and Kaitlin Olsen the most enjoyable aspect of this movie are the team members a talented group of young intellectually challenged young people.

Standout performance by Madison Tevlin as the feisty female member Cosentino , Kevin Iannucci as Johnny the brother of Alex a wisecracking teen who is adored and protected by his sister.

Also Matt Cook as Sonny who shows Marcus the value of friendship and Casey Metcalfe as Marlon the autistic savant who can rattle of amazing facts about any subject to the amazement of Marcus.

This is a delightful if predictable story of hope and connection adapted from a 2018 Spanish film titled Campeones which I must try and track down the screenplay writers and director Bobby Farrelly have produced a very entertaining and thoughtful insight into the world of sport for intellectually disadvantaged people of all ages .

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.

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.