Review: Champions, the feel-good comedy 30 years too late

March 11, 2023

Woody Harrelson stars as a down on his luck minor-league basketball coach. (Source: 1News)

They don't make many movies like Champions anymore.

Maybe for good reason!

Picture this: it's 1993. Hot off the heels of White Men Can't Jump, Woody Harrelson makes another Basketball movie.

He plays a hot-headed coach who dreams of the NBA but after being arrested for driving under the influence, he's tasked with community service coaching people with intellectual disabilities, a team known as "The Friends".

It's going to take a lot to get The Friends into playing shape, and maybe Harrelson is the right guy to do it, but first he's going to have to learn a thing or two about love.

People howl with laughter as the R-word is used twice in the film to refer to the team, the song Tubthumping by Chumbawumba isn't out yet, so it's use in the film blows people's minds.

Now picture this film releasing in 2023. Well you don't have to, 'cause guess what, you're living it, baby.

Bobby Farrelly of the Farrelly Brothers makes his solo directorial debut with Champions. After making films like There's Something About Mary and Shallow Hal together, Peter Farrelly went off on his own and made Best Picture winner Green Book, while Bobby made Champions.

Green Book was criticised when it won for it's very sterilised look at racism, and it's white saviour narrative. The double feature of Green Book and Champions is a fascinating glimpse into the Farrelly household.

Two men who made some of the most juvenile comedies of the 90s and 00s now seem to have had some kind of awakening and want to make high art. The only problem is, they're stuck in the 90s.

Both Green Book and Champions are fairly enjoyable films. My main criticism for both would be that they're very surface level, and the way they tackle the issues of racism or ableism at their core are very dated takes.

I'm not made of stone, there are gags in Champions that made me chuckle and there are heartwarming moments where I felt some of the ice on my cold, dead heart start to break away.

Leaving the cinema I was left with a strange feeling, I had enjoyed the film but I couldn't help but think "don't we make better movies than this now?"

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