Underdogs

As my title says this is a movie where I became more worried about the potential business growth of the heater rather than the success of the football team on the field. I have seen many football-driven stories before but this one was lacking the appeal to the team. I felt it combined a bunch of stereotypical sports movie moments and even felt it was taken from previous movies.

For one - Big Mac felt like a complete ripoff of The Blind Side even adding in the scrawny cousin as a package deal.

The coach reminded me of Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights but instead of worrying about the football team he worried more about smooshing with the local bartender. Focus on the team Coach!

At the heart of the story to me really was how corporate America continues to look for ways to screw over the little man. The father who worked at the factory seemed to have a mental limitation which was taken advantage of - this happens in everyday life and this movie showcased it.

I will say the house of the CEO of the factory was almost too impressive when the kids jumped into the backyard lake I wondered if it was safe with the recent bacterial outbreaks in still water but with his money he more than likely treats it.

In the end I do hope for a spinoff for this movie where it focuses more on the fathers space heater and selling it. Maybe a Pursuit of Happyness sequal where he teams up with Will Smith as he sells his bone density scanners.

Anything is possible!

Long story short if you are looking for a non-sports movie about a father trying to sell his space heater and make his well deserved millions then this is your movie!

If you are looking for a Football movie then you may as well turn on the boob tube and hope that a rerun of Varsity Blues is on.

PS - How much did Joe Namath get paid for his appearance? Shouldn't be much more than $1000 and a case of Coors Light.

Underdogs is a low key, slow burn underwhelming drama that just about sustains your interest.

D B Sweeney is a veteran football coach newly arrived at a struggling High School in Ohio.

Logan Huffman is the team's quarterback who is drawn to the cheerleader of the rival high school football team which leads to rivalry with her boyfriend who is the quarterback for that High School.

The interesting part of the film and this is based on true facts is that the Huffman's father is the inventor of the EdenPURE space heater and has to defend his invention from his former employer. The former employer is also the dad of the rival high school's quarterback.

The film is rather contrived and low key, there is enough spin put on it to make it viewable but it never rises above than just being average thanks to the space heater side plot because it never passes muster as a sports movie.

As in really, really bad. The writing is terrible, the actors are horrible. We did get a good laugh at how terribly awful the movie is. I thought it was made 20 years earlier and my husband had dug up a gem from the unwatched movies tucked in to Netflix. There was not one appealing character, the scenes were clichéd... you could guess every single line and outcome. I love football and usually will sit through anything and at least partially be attracted. All I can say is, "Wow!" Was this movie cast from the dregs of an acting school in Akron, Ohio? And what kind of music makes up the background? The music would be better matched to a fern bar. I was stunned to learn this film had grossed over $30,000. Much like "Snakes on a Plane," "Underdogs" movie copies will fill bins in WalMart at a few hundred pennies for hopeful sale for many years to come.

Incredibly flat movie that had a promising cast and a nice story.

The movie just lacks any punch as everything is predictable and just kind of fumbles along. And, while the lead actor was OK, he was physically too small and underweight to portray any standard high school QB - not believable at all.

There's too many classic football movies to re-watch vs watching this one.

I just saw this film yesterday at the Cleveland International Film Festival. I must say, I was very impressed.

The overall cinematography is in line with most modern day multi-million dollar Hollywood productions, even though this was produced as an independent film and shot in less than a month in Stark County, Ohio. It's amazing to see how far film makers can go when they actually have talent and aren't relying on a bloated budget and over-hyped marketing campaign. UNDERDOGS shines in that the shots themselves are well composed and can, at times, even evoke emotion.

The actors and actresses all performed extremely well. Though this is a family-oriented film, there wasn't a lot of "cheesy" moments or poor acting typically associated with those types of films. The characters themselves are very memorable and you could almost hear the audience praising the heroes and booing the villains as the film went on. There is enough humor sprinkled throughout to keep it from becoming too serious.

Though this was primarily a football movie, I found it quite engaging even though I didn't understand a lot of the football jargon. The parallel plot of an employee fighting against his greedy employer really helps drive home the whole spirit of being an underdog, which most people can really relate to.

Overall, fun and enjoyable film and highly recommended!