Champions

A very warm, smaller movie about a group of rag-tag basketball players with various intellectual and physical challenges. By strange luck they get a recent former professional basketball coach who helps them not only learn how to play better but also to have pride in their "championship" accomplishes, even if they never actually win a championship. My favorite was Madison Tevlin as Cosentino, a fiery character that can motivate the guys when needed.

Woody Harrelson is the professional coach, he is very good but gets fired as the movie starts. Seems he is a bit too insistent towards the head coach. Then he unwisely starts to drive home with a few too many beers in him, crashes into a parked police car, and has to go before the lady judge who detests drunk drivers. He will either get 18 months in jail, or do 90 days of community service. Coaching the local basketball team made up of special needs individuals. Easy choice, given the two alternatives.

The first 30 minutes or so are hard to get through, there is a lot of foolishness as the situation and characters are established. In fact my wife abandoned it about 30 minutes in, she said it was too slow. But it picked up right after that and the whole movie turned out to be quite entertaining with good messages.

At home , streaming on Peacock.

Veteran director Bobby Farrelly's warm basketball dramedy "Champions" (remaking Spain's 2018 "Campeones") twists an over-used theme to charming effect. Thru impersonal surliness coach Woody Harrelson's career's slumped to being Ernie Hudson's assistant at a minor Iowa team - which he's fired as, then arrested, then forced via community service to coach Cheech Marin's team of learning disabled misfits inc Kevin Iannucci, Madison Tevlin (hilarious) & James Day Keith. Clichés of course ensue, but Mark Rizzo's writing blends them in well, and support from the likes of Kaitlin Olson (so good) & Matt Cook add fine polish. It's fun, uplifting and inspiring.

As my title states, I am a retired high school SPED teacher and I was also a Special Olympics coach for several years in different sports. When I read an interview with Woody Harrelson about this movie, I was intrigued to see it because I wanted to see how Hollywood would portray these very real people with intellectual disabilities.

While there are certainly and understandably elements of Hollywood in this movie, the realness of the Friends team was very authentic. And all throughout the movie it's the authenticity of the Friends team that makes this such an enjoyable movie. Personally, I thought it was just a bit too long, but that aside, I just kept saying to myself, "Yes, that is exactly what probably would happen in that situation." The absolute clincher of this was at the very end of the championship game and the team's reaction to the final shot. I promise you, that was very realistic. I've seen that play out in my classroom and in the field or court dozens of times. So, I hope many will watch this movie and enjoy these folks for who they really are, warts and all. Isn't that really what we all want?

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.

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 .