Champions: Movie Review

Cast: Woody Harrelson, Kaitlin Olson, Cheech Marin, Ernie Hudson, Kevin Iannucci

Director: Bobby Farrelly

An English language remake of the 2018 Spanish movie Campeones reteams Kingpin star Woody Harrelson and director Bobby Farrelly, Champions is a curious beast.

Aiming more at feelgood, but somehow managing to feel flat in its long duration, this film promises comedy but more often than not, delivers drama for its main actors - and comedy from its disabled cast.

Harrelson is disgraced basketball coach Marcus, who, after a DUI charge, finds himself on community service and tasked with coaching basketball team the Friends, a motley collection of boys with Down Syndrome. Their goal? The Special Olympics...

Following an entirely predictable path, Champions is exactly the kind of underdog story you'd expect from its genre, albeit one with more drama and sensitivity than perhaps you'd expect from a Farrelly brother behind the cameras.

Harrelson is fine as Marcus; in truth, he feels somewhat muted and more grounded in the role, but he gets a decent spark when facing off against on and off again love interest Alex (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Olson), and the pair find a relatable dynamic that works well on screen.

The only problem with Champions is in how underwritten some of the Friends feel.

While Iannucci's Johnny gets the lion's share of the story (thanks to a connection to both Alex and Marcus), the rest of the Friends are left to deliver quirky one-liners and moments that very occasionally feel uneasy but never stray into exploitation. There's dignity in their treatment to be sure, even if not all of them feel fleshed out.

Incredibly, Farrelly treats the whole thing with sensitivity for the most part - any gross out gags are largely left to the sideline and the film greatly benefits from being empathetic to its characters. It does lack some majorly cathartic moments, and one entire sequence involving a Friends player and his boss feels like a squandered moment.

But given the story is about Marcus being told how he needs to get to know people to be a better coach, it somewhat sticks in the craw that this side of the character development is largely confined to only a few members of the Friends - aside from one last third act moment.

Champions aims to be feelgood, and while there's a lot of veracity in its execution, don't be entirely surprised if this sports underdog story and human redemption movie doesn't quite leave you feeling as uplifted as you'd expect.

It's solid, but not spectacular and there's a distinctly nagging feeling that in parts, if developed a bit more strongly, it could have been crowdpleasingly sensational.