I Almost Wet Myself

We bought this DVD the other day after seeing it in the local supermarket in the discount box and paid about £5 or $8 for it. It is on sale on Amazon.co.uk for £5.97 or about $9 (or slightly less if you are willing to take a chance and buy it second-hand). The Longest Yard is based on a 1974 film of the same name, which starred Burt Reynolds in the lead role. The 2005 version is a comedy - and as you will read further on, a blooming funny one!

***The Film***

Adam Sandler plays Paul "Wrecking" Crewe, a man dogged by bad press since his football career was ruined amid rumours that he deliberately fixed a football game. His girlfriend (played by Courteney Cox Arquette) is a bit of a celebrity wanabee who is trying to be better than she really is. She is not in the film very long so it is a bit of a short role for her. Whilst having some kind of party in the house, Crewe locks said girlfriend in the wardrobe and takes her car, despite being completely drunk and drives off. But she gets the last laugh so it would seem, by reporting her car stolen to the police, and so he is arrested, tried, convicted and sent to Allenville Penitentiary, one of the toughest prisons in the country.

There he meets Warden Hazen played by James Cromwell, known for LA Confidential but the trekkies out there will know him better as Zephram Cochrane, the man who invented the warp drive in Star Trek (oops, digressing a bit there). The warden decides to try and break Crewe, which really does not happen and Crewe starts to get the respect of the other prisoners.

The prison guards have a football team and the warden decides that it would be good for them to have a "warm up game" just before the start of the football season, for them to get a win straight away and then be able to carry on the momentun. To this end, he asks Crewe to form and train a football team from the convicts.

With the help of Caretaker (played by Chris Rock), Crewe starts to enlist prisoners to play in the football team. to be known as the Mean Machine. At first not many are interested until they hear that they will be playing the guards - and then almost everyone wants to join! He is also joined by former pro coach Nate Scarboro (The Coach) who helps him train the convicts and finds some novel ways to recruit players and also to gain an advantage over the guards.

And the outcome - how do Crewe and Caretaker get the right sort of players, how do they train, do the convicts win or will the guards thrash them on the football field - I'm not telling! You will just have to watch!

***DVD Extras***

Music Video - "Errtime" by Nelly - I am not a great fan of Nelly and his music, but have to admit that I actually enjoyed watching this.

Deleted Scenes with optional Director Commentary - these are pretty self-explanatory, but I have to admit that none of these scenes would really have made the film any better. I did try the Director Commentary but found it a bit off-putting.

4 Featurettes Including "The Making Of" - these were really interesting I thought and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the making of. One of the other featurettes showed the feeding of the cast and crew and Oh My God, can these guys eat!

Blooper Reel - this is the best part of the extras - so funny. I have to admit to watching this twice as I was laughing so much that I missed half of the bloopers and had to go back and watch the ones I missed.

***My Opinion***

Like the title says - I almost wet myself laughing at this - it was absolutely hilarous! Compared to the original film, this is a superb remake. Adam Sandler is his usual funny self, bringing humour and humanity to the film. While I do not condone drinking and driving, the scene right at the start of the film where he is drunk after taking his girlfriend's car and makes fun of the police officers is so funny, and yet his refusal whilst in prison to be broken by the guards or to finally bow down to the governor of the prison shows his character's eventual grasp of the concept of humanity.

Reynolds is actually quite funny but then again, he really pales in comparison to the likes of Sandler and Chris Rock, who is (in my opinion) one of the funniest men in film these days. The way Rock can take a serious situation and make it funny is a gift to be enjoyed by all. Caretaker is the man who can get anything for anyone, including football boots disguised in a birthday cake, and vodka concealed down the toilet.

Being a bit of a wrestling fan, it was really nice to see the great names of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kevin Nash and Bill Goldberg in the film (2 play guards, 1 plays a convict). No I will not tell you which one plays a convict, you will just have to watch the film to find out. Nelly also stars in this. Yes he is a rapper and he plays a convict but he is a really good actor - I was quite surprised at how good he was, considering I am certainly not a fan of his.

The acting in this is actually really good from everyone. I have to say that my favourite line has to be from one of the more educationally challenged prisoners who, after receiving a broken nose in training states "I don't want to play no more, he brokeded my nose". After getting it fixed there and then Caretaker tells him he now looks like a young Michael Jackson and he is over the moon!

Just as an added extra - the cheerleaders for the Mean Machine are a real highlight to the film - so camp and yet so funny.

***DVD Info***

Region - 2 PAL
Run time - 1 hour 49 minutes
Languages - English and Spanish
Certificate - 15

More info on the film can be found at www.longestyard.com

***Cast***

Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Burt Reynolds, Steve Austin, Kevin Nash, Bill Goldberg, James Cromwell, Nelly, William Fichtner.

***Final Word***

Do I recommend this? Yes,yes and yes again. It is hilarous and as I have probably already mentioned, one of the better re-makes of an old film that has been aired in a long time. If you have not seen this film, then you are really missing out in my view - this film is really funny and some of the extras are quite interesting (and funny too!).

I cannot really give this film less than the full five stars - my hubby would never forgive me (especially as I made him sit and watch the extras, and he does not normally do that - all in the name of good research!).

My advice if you want to buy this DVD is shop around. There are so many good bargains to be had, don't just buy the first copy you see. Check out the web and search the high street and get the best deal you can. And enjoy!

Thanks for reading! Di xx