First, Woody Harrelson starred alongside Wesley Snipes in ‘White Men Can’t Jump’, a comedy film in which Harrelson is a conman, teaming up with Snipes in order to bet on himself in a basketball game and win big. Next, Harrelson starred alongside Will Ferrell in ‘Semi-Pro’ where he plays a backup point guard who gets traded to the worst team in the league. Now, we have ‘Champions’, a film that completes the Holy Harrelson Basketball Trilogy, in which he coaches a mentally challenged basketball team to win the Special Olympics.
I was told about this movie by my manager during the usual morning conversation, and not a single bad word was said about it, so that night, I turned on Netflix and right between ‘Old Dads’ and the usual stand-up special from a comedian I’ve never heard of, was ‘Champions’. While it felt slightly problematic, ‘Champions’ turned into a surprisingly heartwarming story that doesn’t set up it’s mentally challenged characters to be clowns, but people we could learn from. This film is much more emotional than it seems at first glance and opens your eyes to the troubles and discrimination that challenged people face every day.
Harrelson plays Marcus, a basketball coach who has time and time again broken the rules, earning him multiple demotions. After being arrested for drunk driving, he’s given a choice: Jail, or coach a mentally challenged basketball team for 90 days. Begrudgingly, he chooses the latter, and while part of the film makes fun of mentally challenged people, we see Marcus change and become a much more loving part of his players’ lives. But as he and the team’s success grows, another, much-concerning choice arises, and he has to choose whether to stay with his team, or desert them for a minuscule chance at the NBA.
Co-starring with Harrelson is Kaitlyn Olson, who you may recognise from ‘It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’, who gets a chance to show off her acting skills as Alex, the sister of Johnny and the love interest of Marcus. Johnny is played by Kevin Iannucci, who plays his role so fearlessly, that despite all the jokes, made me feel a lot of sympathy. Johnny is one of the mentally challenged players who strikes a friendship with Marcus, inviting him to Meatloaf Mondays and Carpool Karaoke and the one team player we spend the most time with. A standout performance is Casey Metcalfe playing Marlon, the nerdy player who couldn’t stop reminding me of Know-It-All from ‘The Polar Express’.
The one thing I would have asked of this movie, is either a longer runtime or more scenes of basketball. We spend a lot of time building relationships with the characters, which is nice, but it feels like we’re backstage with Micheal Jordan’s coach and manager, rather than the players. But you can’t go wrong with this film, a feel-good comedy that doesn’t humiliate its actors, you’ll laugh, but you’ll smile more and your heart will be as warm as a steaming cup of tea.
Mason’s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars! See It Tonight!
Mason Horsley is a graduate of UOW with a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Arts, majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Theatre. He hopes to write and direct a feature film and has been working on screenplays since he was 17. He writes film reviews for the Tertangala and works on his latest project ‘The Last Film’ while working a full-time job at a fish market. Mason despises reviewing films he dislikes and because of this, every review he writes acts as a recommendation.
Image Credit: Focus Features