Customer Reviews

The Longshots [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Longshots," on the surface, is a movie we've seen countless times before -- an underachieving team, freshly motivated, become real competitors as they ride from one victory to the next. What sets "The Longshots" apart, however, is the central relationship between a sullen girl and her out-of-work uncle.
The film is about Jasmine Plummer (Keke Palmer), the first girl quarterback to play in the Pop Warner football tournament.
Jasmine, who lives with her mom, Claire (Tasha Smith), is an eleven-year-old more at ease reading books than socializing with classmates. She's tried to get involved in after-school activities, but is teased and soon retreats to her books.
When Claire's work schedule is changed to a later shift, she asks Jasmine's Uncle Curtis (Ice Cube) to look after her in the afternoons. Reluctantly, Curtis agrees. Both Jasmine and Curtis initially resent this arrangement, but try to make the best of it. One day, Curtis, a former high school football player, tosses around a football with Jasmine and sees that she has a good eye and a strong arm. He talks Jasmine into trying out for the local team, telling her she owes it to herself to pursue something she does well.
The story is set in the fictional town of Minden, economically devastated since a local factory -- the town's major employer -- closed down a few years ago. Many shops on the main street are closed, idle men hang out on the streets, and a general air of resigned despair permeates people, buildings, and the town itself.
The film's second act focuses on Jasmine's making the team and turning around its fortunes from also-ran to winner. The team's success energizes the town, giving it something to be proud of.
"The Longshots" delivers a far different experience than I anticipated. Director Fred Durst devotes considerable time to the growing relationship between Jasmine and Curtis. We really get to know them and have a firm grip on their personalities, fears, and frustrations. In a non-rushed series of scenes -- some with gently comic moments -- we come to like these two people and care about what will happen to them.
Ice Cube is very good as Curtis, a man whose self-esteem has taken a hit in the years since his high school glory days. His Curtis is a decent guy who genuinely cares for his niece, partly because his brother, Jasmine's father, has abandoned her. His suggestions are never bullying. They are presented with logical back-up and rationale. He relies upon Jasmine to weigh the suggestions and decide for herself whether to pursue them. Ice Cube is wonderfully expressive, and perfectly conveys what he's thinking, a technique invaluable in acting for the camera.
Ms. Palmer provides a sympathetic yet spirited Jasmine. As she comes to know her uncle better and like him, she listens to him and comes to have faith in herself and respect for her own athletic ability. By playing football, she is making her uncle happy, but is also tapping talents she never knew she had.
What "The Longshots" doesn't contain are scenes of excessive team putdowns of Jasmine, big arguments about a girl playing football, and a melodramatic family home life. Director Durst has wisely cut to the chase, staying with the story of Jasmine, Curtis, and the team's effect on Minden, and avoiding the cliches.
Rated PG, "The Longshots" is an excellent family film -- a movie that can be enjoyed equally by a young audience and their parents.

This was a touching and well made movie!

I'm not even into football but I was rooting for this little girl all the way...then I was rooting for this community!

Bottom line this was a great family film that pulls at your heart strings and makes you root for the underdog!

This is a very good Family Movie and Ice cube is such a great Actor.I recomend it to family's.It shows what can happen when you beleive in
Yourself.and how much courage this Girl has to go for what you beleive in.I also enjoy Keke palmer.she is a great actor as well.

i ordered this movie for my kid brother who loves this movie and i am so glad and happy he loves it so thank you for the great price.

I saw "The Longshots" on HBO, and decided to purchase it for my friend and her family. They live in rural Washington, and don't have the money to go out a lot. I thought TLS was the perfect family movie.

It is hard to find a family film that doesn't have sexual references, bad language, violent or destructive situations. "The Longshots" is a great movie for girls, especially. What makes it even better, it's a true story.

A lonely, 14 year old girl in a broken-down town, with a single mother who has to take on extra shifts at work, ends up being "babysat" by her uncle [her dad's brother], who she barely knows. Her father, who she misses terribly, is a con artist who only comes around when he wants something.

The relationship between Jasmine, and her uncle [Ice Tea who is GREAT] is at first disconnected. Neither wants the other around, until her uncle tosses her the football he always carries as a reminder of what might have been, if not for an injury. When she throws it back, he sees she has quite an arm, and after many training sessions, and getting to like one another, she eventually makes the boys, not-so-hot football team...........and becomes the starting quarterback.

The story has the usual girl-hating etc, but they don't focus on it for too long and ruin the beauty of the movie. Instead, the boys quickly become her ally,(she starts winning games!). It is really refreshing to see boys portrayed in a more realistic light. I get very tired of boys and men constantly being depicted as insensitive buffoons, or violent sociopaths. Most of the boys I know are sweet, sensitive, smart, kids, who might balk at a girl on their team, but I don't think so. Especially one as good a Jasmine! The story shows how acting on a belief can change a life, a famiy, a football team, and a whole town.

It is a wonderful story for girls AND boys to see. But it appeals to all because it is a well acted and written story about love, committment, redemption, believing in possibilities, and yourself.

Longshots has a good story. It also has terrific performances by both Ice Cube and Keke Palmer, which won't go unnoticed to the viewer. The problem with the film is that it doesn't go deep enough to really tap into the emotional core of the film the way other sports films have done, such as "Remember the Titans" or "Rudy." At an hour and a half, I feel that they could have added another 20-30 minutes to really make this movie fly. The movie is still watchable, fun entertainment, for the most part.

Longshots is based on a true story of a young girl who wants to play football, and becomes the first girl to ever play in the Pop Warner Superbowl. Jasmine Plummer lives with her mother. Her father has left the family and is nowhere to be found. She spends her spare time reading, and she's ridiculed by her classmates at school for always having her nose in a book. Her one desire in life is to become a model. Her mother has to take on extra hours at work, and so Jasmine is left with her unemployed uncle, Curtis. At first, and a bit predictably, Jasmine and Curtis have a difficult time getting along, seeing that they don't have much in common. Curtis doesn't go anywhere without his football, and Jasmine is the same way with her books. When Curtis is playing catch with a friend, the ball lands at Jasmine's feet (yes, we've seen this formula a number of times), and Jasmine delivers a near-perfect pass. Suddenly, it dawns on Curtis to help Jasmine develop her skills of becoming a quarterback that even she doesn't know she has.

Keke Palmer is one of today's best upcoming actresses. She was fantastic in "Akeelah and the Bee," and she matches Ice Cube in every scene. Evidently, she trained very hard to be able to throw a football. There is a hilarious scene when Jasmine is trying to put on all of her football equipment, and she lets out a piercing scream of disgust when she realizes she's holding a jock strap.

Ice Cube is equally good as her uncle, Curtis. Curtis is a man who is feeling the pains of being stuck. He feels that he should have left the little town they live in, which is all but dead due to the economy. He spends his days hanging out at the field, and little else. He wears the same clothes for days. However, finding a companion in Jasmine, Curtis discovers that he now has something to do with his time that is worthwhile.

I would have loved to see more development between Jasmine and Curtis. The story had something really special going on between these two characters, but there simply isn't enough time to devote to them, as the story shifts to Jasmine's football training, a few games, and then, of course, the championship game in Miami.

There are a couple of scenes when her father comes back. I would have also liked to have seen this dynamic played out a bit more as well as the strained relationship between Jasmine's father and Curtis, who now bitterly resents his brother for abandoning Jasmine. These three characters are really the most interesting in the film. Even a budding romance between Curtis and Jasmine's teacher feels contrived and unreal. It is also unnecessary.

The football scenes are fine, and they play themselves out in typical fashion. There isn't anything we haven't already scene in other films, which is another reason why I feel that movie short-changed itself in the characterization and the relationships. The heart of the movie seemed to lie there, so I was hoping for something deeper.

In any case, Longshots is a good film that can certainly be enjoyed by the whole family. However, the movie could have been so much more than it ended up being.

Long shots is based on a true story of a run down town and a young lady that achieves confidence on the football field. Against all odds, the town as well as the girl learn to achieve simply by watching the girl overcome obstacles on the football field. This movie is good for all ages to see due to it is positive and it shows that anything can be done if you put the proper effort into it. The movie displays decent acting, humor and drama. You won't be disappointed with watching this film.

"The Longshots" is a sports movie that actually wants to be something more than a sports movie. It has heart and humor without getting sappy or ridiculous, and above all, it convinces the audience to believe in its characters for their humanity, not just their skills. It's based on the true story of eleven-year-old Jasmine Plummer, who, in 2003, became the first female quarterback to play at the Pop Warner Football tournament in Miami. I have no idea how accurately the film portrays her or her story, but I guess it doesn't really matter; even if it were purely fictional, "The Longshots" would still be compelling. One of the best things about it is Keke Palmer, who plays Plummer not as an underdog cliché but as a shy, vulnerable, lonely girl desperate to be accepted in a cruel world. You feel for her and you want her to triumph, which I'm sure was exactly what the filmmakers were aiming for.

While Plummer is one of the most important characters, "The Longshots" is not entirely her story; this would probably be a tedious film if it focused on nothing other than a girl trying to make it on an all-boys' team. Instead, the attention is split between her story and the story of her team, who struggle to find success. But success doesn't come easy to a junior high football team from an economically disadvantaged town. Times are toughs in Minden, Illinois, especially now that the local factory has closed down. Many people are unemployed. Some live at or below the poverty level. One of the disadvantaged is Curtis (Ice Cube), who hasn't found work since the factory shut down. Unkempt and detached, he now spends his days hanging around with other unemployed people, drinking beer and tossing around his football. Apparently, the football is a reminder of his younger days, when he was a junior high star athlete.

One day, his former sister-in-law, Claire (Tasha Smith), asks him to spend some time with her daughter, Jasmine. Jasmine, still reeling from the fact that her father abandoned her, is not fitting in with the other kids at school. Because of that, she's completely unmotivated to do any after school activities. She would rather be by herself, reading a book. At first, neither Curtis nor Jasmine is thrilled at the idea of spending a couple of hours a day together. But things start to change when he sees how well she throws a football; he soon begins practicing with her, and lo and behold, she's got talent. When he suggests that she join her school's Football team, she's reluctant--while she acknowledges her accomplishments, she's never wanted to play sports. Her dream is to be a fashion model. But with a little encouragement, Jasmine works up the nerve to approach the school's coach, Fisher (Matt Craven), and ask for a tryout.

He gives her a chance, although it took a lot of convincing. Fortunately, it doesn't take much to convince the boys on the team, whose hurtful teasing quickly gives way to praise. Before long, Jasmine is no longer just the girl on the Football team; she's one of the players. Her story soon makes national headlines, helped by the fact that Minden's school team is finally on a winning streak. Their luck carries them all the way to the Pop Warner Football tournament, which is essentially the Superbowl of little league Football. When unforeseen events take Coach Fisher out of the game, Curtis takes over, and as a result, the bond between him and Jasmine grows strong. I suppose this is to be expected. "The Longshots" is above all else a feel-good movie; we want to see Jasmine break out of her shell, and we long for that moment when Curtis sees her for the wonderful person she is. Of course, we also want her team to win. As so many earlier movies have shown, fewer things are as satisfying as a group of underdogs on the path to victory.

It can be argued that "The Longshots" is at times a little too cliché. Some of the characters a little too broadly drawn, such as Jasmine's father, Roy (Malcolm Goodwin), who adds conflict by reappearing at just the right point in the story. And the idea of a misfit blossoming into the town hero certainly isn't new. Nevertheless, the film definitely achieves what it wanted to achieve. Leaving the theater, I saw the satisfaction on everyone's faces, and I'm sure some of them saw the satisfaction on mine. And isn't that exactly what we want from a sports movie? Isn't that what we want from any movie about overcoming adversity? We may have seen stories like "The Longshots" before, but at least the filmmakers made a conscious effort to make it entertaining, heartfelt, and inspiring.

Young Keke Palmer deserves a lot of credit for making her character relatable. So does Ice Cube, who's very convincing as a down and out man with little to hope for; as the film progresses, we genuinely believe Curtis is beginning to care for his niece, just as we believe he resents his brother for abandoning her. There's always an air of regret in his voice, which would be expected of anyone putting his or her dreams on hold. His developing relationship with Jasmine makes him wonder if his problem can in fact be solved by leaving Minden; moving to Miami may not bring him the happiness he's longed for, especially now that he's discovering Minden's strong sense of community. Whether or not any of this is accurate to the real story of Jasmine Plummer, I can't say. All I can say is that "The Longshots" is a charming, sincere sports movie, one that can has you feeling good all throughout.

This movie is so true to life. The obstacles one has to endure to achieve something not to mention if it is a not-so-typical role. Perseverance is the key word for this film.

I like the acting style of Ice Cube. He has become quite an amazing actor and a very diversed one, too. He delivers the message in this movie quite nicely. Without giving too much of the storyline away, Ice Cube becomes the father for which his niece painfully cries. The story is very emotional and well written.