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The Longshots (2008)

tomatometer

39

Average Rating: 5.2/10
Reviews Counted: 71
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 43

The Longshots means well, but it's a largely formulaic affair, rarely deviating from the inspirational sports movie playbook.

35

Average Rating: 5/10
Critic Reviews: 20
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 13

The Longshots means well, but it's a largely formulaic affair, rarely deviating from the inspirational sports movie playbook.

audience

64

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 21,938

My Rating

Movie Info

Former Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst directs Ice Cube and Keke Palmer in this battle-of-the-sexes sports comedy about a former high-school football star who coaches his niece to become the first-ever girl quarterback in the history of Pop Warner football. Based on a true story, The Longshots opens in the struggling American town of Minden, IL. The Minden Browns used to be one of the strongest teams in the Pop Warner league, but lately things have taken a turn for the worst. Recognizing that

PG, 1 hr. 34 min.

Drama, Comedy

Nick Santora, Doug Atchison

Dec 2, 2008

$11.4M

The Weinstein Company

Cast

All Critics (71) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (28) | Rotten (43) | DVD (8)

The most surprising thing about the inspirational sports movie The Longshots is not that there isn't already an inspirational sports movie with that exact name. The big shock is that the director Fred Durst -- and he doesn't do half bad.

August 28, 2008 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | Comment
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A cliché-riddled, warm and fuzzy, small-town sports drama.

August 22, 2008 Full Review Source: Detroit News | Comment
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Longshots is a likable enough Cinderella story, one whose heart is clearly in the right place, even if it winds up on its sleeve once too often.

August 22, 2008 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This genuinely affecting movie, based on a true story, has a heart as big as a football field even when its plot points are telegraphed.

August 22, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Daily News | Comment
New York Daily News
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The Longshots (awful title, guys) plays every instrument in the cliché orchestra, but it at least plays them well, and its characters are likable enough to settle in with for a pleasant hour and a half.

August 22, 2008 Comment
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Its charms, however slight or familiar, are present and its family-friendly characters and dialogue are refreshing.

August 22, 2008 Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | Comment
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Despite its roots in real life, much of The Longshots feels like Hollywood stirring the pot.

September 28, 2011 Full Review Source: American Profile | Comment

The script may have taken an hour to write, and I hope they got a bulk rate on generic inspirational music, but Cube and his young co-star, Keke Palmer, are plenty charismatic, and Durst doesn't knock over the camera.

April 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | Comment
Boston Phoenix

It has a nice message, and despite the fact that I feel he's been totally emasculated over the years, Cube remains a solid actor.

February 27, 2009 Full Review Source: JoBlo's Movie Emporium | Comment
JoBlo's Movie Emporium

Durst's surprisingly gentle and understated direction lends the proceedings authenticity even when they cover the most pro forma ground.

February 12, 2009 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | Comment
TheMovieReport.com

That's the problem with this well-intentioned celebration of the spirit of Title IX: it wants so badly to be liked that it tries to blend into the crowd. [Blu-ray]

December 28, 2008 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | Comment

Ice Cube brings his family film "A" game to The Longshots

December 19, 2008 Full Review Source: Donne Tempo | Comment
Donne Tempo

A winner for the whole family.

November 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | Comment
Hollywood.com

It is unabashedly sentimental and, at times sincerely touching, mainly when Ice Cube and Palmer are alone together on the screen.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Comment
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Cube and Durst have certainly survived worse career flops, but the chances of them working together again on a film? Let's just say it's a longshot.

September 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International

It's rare to see a well-made movie that empowers young girls the way this one does. So who am I to complain about the plot being formulaic?

September 5, 2008 Full Review Source: The Cinema Source | Comment

It's a by-the-numbers Hollywood movie, but a surprisingly competent one.

September 4, 2008 Full Review Source: Paste Magazine | Comment
Paste Magazine

Yet another inspirational sports flick.

September 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

A Disney wannabe, Fred Durst's girl power sports flick is ho hum and very forgettable...

August 29, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
Cinema Crazed

The based-on-a-true-story tale of Pop Warner's first female quarterback is a feelgood picture with not a single convention out of place that manages not to offend even if it also doesn't offer a single shred of originality.

August 29, 2008 Full Review Source: IGN Movies | Comment
IGN Movies

...sensitive, well-attuned performances [from] Ice Cube and [Keke] Palmer...

August 29, 2008 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | Comment
Sacramento News & Review

Not maudlin enough to make it memorable

August 28, 2008 Full Review Source: jackiekcooper.com | Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Longshots

This story behind this movie was OK. I didn't think Keke Palmer played the role tough enough to play an 11 year old Pop Warner football player. Even for 11 year olds, it is a bruising game. But realism aside, it is an uplifting story.

June 12, 2010
Redlats

Super Reviewer

Another remarkable true story on American football, but this film is a heart-warming and touching family-friendly, and similarly funny like Hardball. What an unbelievable and fabulous story of the first girl joined in football with boys as a new quarterback with assist from her uncle, an ex-forlorn high school

August 26, 2008
deano
Dean McKenna

Super Reviewer

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Latest News for The Longshots

February 14, 2011:
Paul Walker Joins Fred Durst's Pawn Shop Chronicles
Fred Durst has cast Paul Walker in his next project, a thriller titled "Pawn Shop Chronicles" that's...

October 1, 2010:
Fred Durst to Direct Pawn Shop Chronicles
Fred Durst is lining up his next directorial gig: "Pawn Shop Chronicles," a project being described...

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