brilliant actors, brilliant editing

A Disappointing Continuation

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Coach Roy (Martin Lawrence) was a great college basketball coach, but distractions have cause his career to crash. When he accidentally kills the bird mascot, it's the last straw, and he is banned from from coaching. However a rule forces them to accept him back if he can keep out of trouble for the rest of the year. They just won't let him coach in their league, so he returns to his junior high after the kids fake an offer.Is it stupid? Yes it is. Is it unreal? Yes it is. The setup is a really pathetic attempt at 'Bad News Bears', 'Mighty Ducks', or 'Hardball'. The viewer does have to forget about the poor start. Once it gets past that, it's a simple underdog sports movie. Coach Roy is an angry unlikeable apathetic selfish character at the start. But he predictably learns to be a good person coaching the kids. Martin Lawrence is not particularly funny especially as Preacher Don. In fact, I rather him not try to be that loud mouth guy since he can't swear anyways. As a post note, it's very sad the girl on the team got killed by gangs at such a young age. She has the best storyline along with the tall kid.

It's been a few years since this family sports comedy was unleashed upon the world and turned out to be a commercial flop, but it only came to my attention very recently. I guess that was because I recognized Martin Lawrence, who plays the starring role here. He has appeared in a good number of films in his career, but before seeing this one, the only film I had seen him in was "Big Momma's House" (though I had also seen some of his stand-up comedy). To me, that 2000 comedy turned out to be a mixed blessing, which was better than I thought it would be. I may not have had any good reason to watch "Rebound", but I watched it anyway! It seemed that this unpopular movie was generally considered to be unfunny and clichéd, so I wasn't surprised at how little I found amusing in it.Coach Roy McCormick is an egotistical college basketball coach who has trouble controlling his temper. After a violent outburst on the court causes him to accidentally kill the opposing team's bird mascot, he will be banned for life from college basketball unless he can get through an entire season without any more blowups like this! He doesn't get to coach college basketball this season, and will have to prove himself elsewhere before he can return. Meanwhile, the Mount Vernon Junior High School Smelters are all terrible basketball players, and decide they will need a highly skilled coach if they're going to get any better. They decide that Roy would be a great choice, so he gets an offer to coach this middle school team and takes it, only so he can prove himself to be a competent coach and go back to coaching college basketball as soon as possible. However, this experience doesn't turn out to be quite what he expects, and working with these middle school students might change his attitude! Near the beginning of the film, the humour isn't hilarious, but there were times when I at least smiled. However, that changes VERY soon as we're introduced to the members of the Mount Vernon Junior High School team by Annie and Amy, two student sports reporters who appear frequently in the film and don't help with the laughs. This sequence is especially lame when we are shown the Ralph character about to vomit and the Fuzzy character walking down the hall and stuffing his face before getting hit by a door. From this point on, I don't think anything even put a smile on my face. The members of the team who are supposed to be funny definitely fail at that, and when Roy is warned that Ralph throws up whenever he is nervous, it sounds like this player's vomiting could be much more of a running gag than it turns out to be, but it's still memorably unfunny when it happens. When the Big Mac and Wes characters join the team, they don't contribute any laughs to the film, either. This includes the times when Big Mac beats up any peer who gives her trouble, which COULD be funny, but it's not.I'm sure many hate Martin Lawrence as a comedian, which I certainly don't, and while nobody is very funny at all in this movie, including him, his performance is not exactly what makes "Rebound" so bad. I think the performances of those who play the members of the Mount Vernon team generally contribute a lot more to the lack of laughs here than Lawrence does. I'm sorry, I know Tara Correa-McMullen, who plays Big Mac, was killed in a gang shooting at the age of only sixteen the same year this movie came out, and her role here was the only one she ever got to play on the silver screen (it appears she acted in a couple TV shows, but this was her only movie), but this includes her. So, overall, this 2005 flop is just another lacklustre PG-rated family sports movie, and its clichéd formula may not be as big a problem as its poor humour and uninteresting characters. If you want a sports comedy that's actually funny, one marketed as a family film or not, I suggest you skip this particular movie and look elsewhere.

Coach Roy(Martin Lawrence) is a famous college basketball coach who's anger leads him to a indefinite suspension from the league. His life is spirals downhill and ends up coaching the middle school that he used to attend's basketball team.Once again, Martin Lawrence proves himself to be a horrible actor. I can honestly say I have only enjoyed one of his movies(Blue Streak). And now he takes a totally different approach: The Family Movie. Martin when will you learn? You are not funny unless you are absolutely vulgar! Besides Martin Lawrences performance the movie was actually not the worst kid's movie ever. I laughed at a few of the kid's remarks, just never at Martin Lawrence. The movie can be very closely related to Like Mike(Starring Lil Bow Wow) but the scenes in which they place basketball are not even as exciting. Overall, the movie is not anything worth watching even for a family film.I do not recommend this movie.

So bad it's scary flick that I suppose is pleasant enough for the youngest age groups, but the rest of us will suffer unspeakable pains sitting through this deflated dud. Martin Lawrence is a highly successful college basketball coach who has lost touch with the game and his players. A freak accident at one of his games is the last straw as he is banned from coaching the collegiate ranks and then decides to take a job at his old junior high school (being sent a fax by players without consent from administration, go figure!?). Soon the usual sports underdog story takes place with predictable and tiring results. Lawrence has been hit and miss (usually miss) in more adult-oriented flicks, but he looks like he is just trying to make a quick buck here. The kids are totally forgettable and the rest of the cast is unaccomplished and basically have no business in cinematic features. Plays like one of those Disney Network television movies. Hopelessly terrible air ball. 2 stars out of 5.