Review of "The Longest Yard"

I always wonder about the logic behind remakes. Nine times out of ten, the film that is being remade was pretty darned good to begin with, and that presents a couple of problems for the "remakers". One, if your remake is good too, then one has to wonder what the point of remaking the film was in the first place, since a good film with the same story was already available. Second, the very presence of an original film is going to invite instant comparisons, and the remake could really only be considered a success if it is significantly better than the first. Given the fact that most original films being remade were already good, this is really placing the bar kind of high. Remaking, say, "Psycho" is ostensibly an homage to the first's quality, but wouldn't a better way to honor it simply be to make a film about the first one, instead of trying to "reimage" or "retool" it for today's audiences? One of the crucial components of a classic film (or any work of art, really) is it's ability to translate to audiences down through the ages. So throwing in a few culture references and having everyone drive stylish cars and wear hip clothes in the remake is really missing the point, isn't it?

Sigh.

So, with that in mind, we come to "The Longest Yard", a remake of, say it with me folks, a film that was pretty darned good to begin with. It's hard to talk about a remake without discussing the merits of the original, so I won't even try. The original "Longest Yard" was made in 1974 and starred Burt Reynolds at what is arguably the heighth of his powers as an actor, after his television work and before his decline into car chases operas and silly comeback vehicles. I remember very clearly watching this movie as an ABC Sunday Night Movie many times, and being able to stay up past ten o' clock to see it's last few minutes. That film worked for several reasons; Reynold's portrayal of Paul Crew, a fallen football idol who had disgraced himself by throwing a game and wound up in prison on a drunk driving charge. He was used by the prison warden to improve the prison's football team, comprised of guards. In order to do so, Crew decided to stage a practice game using the inmates to play the guards. As time goes on, the stakes of such a game become increasingly higher, as the inmates begin to see the game as a way to get back at the guards, the warden sees it as a way to solidify his political power base (the game will be televised), and Crew sees it as a means of redemption.

Sandler's film follows the same basic plot, with few real deviations. He obviously loves the original, as he peppers his remake with homages galore, including the odd choice of having Reynolds himself co-star as a (very) grizzled old college football star who appears, godlike, out of nowhere to help Crew coach the team. There are also nods to the original in Cloris Leachman's character of the warden's secretary (a role originally played by Bernadette Peters!), and a guy that looks disturbingly like the late Richard Kiel from the original, playing a HUGE crazy inmate Crew is anxious to recruit.

Some of these references work, some don't. In the end, Reynolds' character wasn't TOO annoying, though I still think it was unnecessary. And I think the casting of most of the inmates and guards was done quite well, as most of the characters brought back knowing smiles from someone who was familiar with the original. The Cloris Leachman character was just kind of weird and overdone, though, and Rock was just basically playing himself as an inmate. And Tracy Morgan as a gay cheerleader was not something I was expecting; it was kind of cute for a couple scenes but they sort of overdid it.

There are quite a few laughs in the film, just as in the original. I laughed quite a bit at the sequences where Sandler (the new Crew) is trying to recruit various inmates to join his team. Chris Rock appears as Caretaker, though I didn't find his character quite as funny as I was probably supposed to. Sandler was funny, too, but not in the obnoxious "why am I supposed to like this guy?" way he usually is. Here he seems more comfortable, less anxious to steal scenes and much less angry than he usually does. He kind of channels Reynolds' character, with his laid back, wry sarcasm, and he does pretty well.

I am kind of conflicted about this film in a way. It isn't a great film, and if you have seen the original, there really aren't any big changes or plot twists that will blow you away. And while it is funny, there are a few scenes where it's just trying too hard. But working from the template of the original, it still contains enough punch for me to recommend it. You've got the whole underdog angle, with Crew working through his own failings by bringing hope to the hopeless, you've got a suitably evil James Cromwell (replacing Eddie Albert, who just died yesterday, from the original) and a cadre of sadistic guards to root against. The original film really kind of anticipated the much more acclaimed "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" where again you have a good hearted hell raiser rousing a small community of hopeless men out of their lethargy and giving them something to believe in again. And it's a formula that works.

So I have no doubt this one, with the double punch of a great story and Sandler's tremendous, if often unfathomable, popularity, will be a big success. I just wish that sometime someone would think to remake a film that didn't work as well originally, and try to resculpt it in a way that is more pleasing, rather than continue to try the impossible and improve on films that really didn't need any improvement to begin with.