Home Team is a 2022 American sports comedy film directed by Charles and Daniel Kinnane, written by Chris Titone and Keith Blum, and produced by Adam Sandler‘s Happy Madison Productions and Kevin James’s Hey Eddie Production. The film stars Kevin James, Taylor Lautner, Rob Schneider, Jackie Sandler, and Tait Blum. The film was inspired by true events and follows the story of Coach Payton, the head coach of New Orleans, during his one-year suspension from the NFL. The film centers on coach Payton as he reconnects with his son by coaching their football team. Variety praised Kevin James in the film review saying, “Kevin James is at once the film’s most obvious brand signifier and its most surprising asset: As a heavily fictionalized Payton, his surly hangdog energy gives this corndog of a movie what flavor it has.” Home Team is a sports comedy film that you can watch with the whole family. If you’re still looking for feel-good sports movies, here are five of our recommendations.
Cool Runnings
Cool Runnings is a 1993 American sports comedy film directed by Jon Turteltaub. It stars Leon Robinson, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis, Malik Yoba, and John Candy. The film is loosely based on a true story and centers on the journey of four Jamaican bobsleighers who wish to compete in the 1988 Winter Olympics and ask help from a former champion. This feel-good movie shares similar themes with Home Team, featuring underdogs and lovable characters. In a film review published by Roger Ebert, the actors of the film were praised for their performances. “The actors playing the bobsledders have a nice comic charm, especially Doug E. Doug as a high-energy guy named Sanka Coffie. And John Candy has a couple of stirring speeches that he somehow delivers as if every word were not recycled from other films.”
Moneyball
Moneyball is a 2011 American sports drama film directed by Bennett Miller and written by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin and based on the 2003 nonfiction book by Michael Lewis. The film centers on the Oakland Athletics baseball team’s 2002 season. Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and assistant manager Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) team up and take a different approach in assembling the team as they are faced with budget constraints. The film received critical acclaim, especially for the lead roles’ performances. and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor for Pitt, and Best Supporting Actor for Hill. New York Times published an article about the film, commending Brad Pitt for his role. They wrote, “It’s hard to imagine anyone but Mr. Pitt in the role. He’s relaxed yet edgy and sometimes unsettling, as in his testy exchanges, bristling with tamped-down fury, with the A’s manager, Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman, wearing a head of peach fuzz and a scowl).”
The Damned United
The film Damned United has a more serious tone compared to Home Team but is definitely a must-watch. The Damned United is a 2009 British sports drama film directed by Tom Hooper and adapted by Peter Morgan. The film is adapted from David Peace’s 2006 novel of the same name. The film follows the story of Brian Clough, played by Michael Sheen, who takes over as a football manager of Leeds United. The film centers on his 44-day tenure as football manager of the team that he criticized a lot for its aggressive style. The film received numerous accolades and critical acclaim despite the controversies surrounding it for some inaccuracies. The film received a nomination for the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, the ALFS Award for British Supporting Actor of the Year, the Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama and Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Feature Film Screenplay. In an article by The Guardian, they praised Sheen’s performance in the film saying, “Sheen gives a cracking performance as Clough: resplendent but lonely in what he famously called the “top one” of great managers. A two-tone streak of cruelty and fun makes this a great role for him.”
Field of Dreams
Another sports drama film that is worth watching is the 1989 American sports fantasy drama film Field of Dreams, written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson, based on W. P. Kinsella’s 1982 novel Shoeless Joe. The film features Kevin Cosner in the lead role and Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, and Burt Lancaster in supporting roles. The film follows the story of Ray, a farmer who hears a voice saying “If you build it, he will come”. He builds a baseball field on his cornfield and somehow ghosts of baseball legends start appearing to play in the baseball field he built. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay. In Roger Ebert’s review of the film, they described the movie’s fantasy genre and charm saying, “Field of Dreams” will not appeal to grinches and grouches and realists. It is a delicate movie, a fragile construction of one goofy fantasy after another. But it has the courage to be about exactly what it promises. “If you build it, he will come.”
A League Of Their Own
The 1992 sports-comedy drama A League of Their Own shares a similar approach with Home Team as both are inspired by true events and people. A League of Their Own centers on the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) but narrates a fictionalized version of events. The film is directed by Penny Marshall and stars Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Lori Petty, Jon Lovitz, David Strathairn, Garry Marshall, and Bill Pullman from a screenplay by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel from a story by Kelly Candaele and Kim Wilson. Indie Wire described the movie as the “best sports movie ever” and wrote, “Penny Marshall’s fourth film, after great movies like “Awakenings” and “Big,” has an ease to its execution that proves reminiscent of the world’s greatest sports heroes — so good it doesn’t seem that hard.”
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