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Back Shelf Beauties
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Rebound Martin Lawrence has given us another reason to buy a ticket to War of the Worlds. Lawrence stars as Coach Roy - a once great champion college basketball coach who has lost his way. Now, it's all about endorsements, personal glory and making money instead of teaching young men how to play the game, win and be better people. During one game, Coach Roy loses his temper and accidentally kills the opposing team's mascot during a melee, so he has been suspended, with a possible lifetime ban. In order to return to college coaching, Coach Roy has to prove he has changed his attitude, so he takes the only job offer that comes his way - coach of the same middle school he once attended years ago. Of course, the team hasn't won a game in years, and they're a bunch of clumsy, directionless kids, but Coach Roy has to make them into winners or he can never return to college basketball. Will Coach Roy teach these kids how to play winning basketball? Will they teach him a lesson about being a better person? Can you make it through the entire movie without rolling your eyes? Rebound is The Bad News Bears without the good jokes and likable grumpy old man, and fails because of Lawrence, as well as some pitiful direction and writing. I have never been a fan of Lawrence, and Rebound reminds me why. His only discernable ability seems to be making silly faces, which aren't very funny (and cursing a blue streak, which he can't do in this "family friendly" film). Lawrence's attitude and cartoonish acting doesn't win over the audience or make Coach Roy into a new man. He lacks the depth needed to make Coach Roy into a lovable figure who finally sees the light and redeems his once dastardly ways, and doesn't bring the needed sincerity to his big, passionate speech. Sadly, Lawrence doesn't show much difference in Roy's behavior after the great transformation into supposedly likable hero. At times, it felt as if he was happy to coast along. Rebound also is a horribly written and edited movie. Writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore rely on every cliché known to movie fans across the world, and, often, don't feel the need to write dialogue developing the scenes leading up to the cliché moment. I guess we're so familiar with these formulaic ingredients, Lucas and Moore figure we don't need a foundation for them. They hints at the school's principal (Megan Mullally), seeing a great public relations opportunity with Coach Roy returning to his alma matter, but that never gets developed and Mullally's role is reduced to a few minor walk-on scenes. The mother of one of the players, Jeannie (Wendy Raquel Robinson), also is a teacher at the school assigned to monitor Coach Roy to make sure he cleans up his act, and, of course, starts to fall for Roy, but we never get a good explanation why. The two don't have the kind of scenes that could show the lessening gulf between the two potential lovebirds. Like most twists in this movie, it just happens because it fits some formula we all know. As far as editing and directing, it always feels like huge chunks are missing from Rebound. For example, Coach Roy has to rush across town during rush hour to a game, but we never see the supposedly comedic race against the clock. We only see Roy arriving at the game with his car displaying the remnants of what might have been a funny drive across town (of course, in this movie, it wouldn't be very funny). One basketball game appears to begin with a free throw shot, instead of the customary jump ball, and one climactic game's winning shot seems to take a full 10-seconds to develop and go from the shooter's hand to the basket. Worst of all, some characters just appear out of the blue with little description or introduction, as if those scenes were cut out. While some of the kids were funny in Rebound, the rest of the movie is a horrible flop. ½ Waffle (Out Of 4) Copyright 2005 - WaffleMovies.com
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