Longest Yard, The

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Entertainment: +2 1/2

Content: -2

Paul Crewe (Adam Sandler) is a former college football star who fell from his athletic pedestal when he was convicted of fixing the outcome of a football game. Imprisoned in a West Texas penitentiary, Crewe's football experience and propensity for cheating are quickly exploited by the prison warden (James Cromwell) who strong-arms him into playing football with a team of fellow prisoners against the prison guards. Warden Hazen hopes to convey his superior leadership skills and be propelled politically to the governor's office. When Crewe learns that Heisman trophy winner and former football coach Nate Scarboro (Burt Reynolds) is also a prisoner, he begins to see a wonderful opportunity to build a team that will beat their prison adversaries. A prisoner called Caretaker (Chris Rock) befriends Crewe and provides many laughs for fellow team members like Deacon Moss (Michael Irvin).

Peter Segal directs this remake of the 1974 version of The Longest Yard, which originally featured Burt Reynolds in the leading role. A revolving door of NFL players and Saturday Night Live comedic actors results in an ongoing supply of cameo appearances. Michael Irvin, Dallas Cowboy legend and a professing Christian, contributes to what amounts to more than 100 crude and obscene words that permeate this film. There is also a disappointing amount of homoerotic comedy that plays into the stereotypical view of life inside prison. There is a bevy of effeminate prisoners that flirt and fawn over Paul Crewe in a repulsive way. In contrast, tough guys get equal time through gratuitous athletic violence and police brutality. While there is a moral lesson and some quick-witted comedic touchdowns, The Longest Yard falls largely and sadly short of Preview's standard of acceptability.

Preview Reviewer: Brian Hughes
Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.

Crude Language: Many (64) times - mild (hell 7, damn 12); moderate (b-tt 1, b-stard 4, b--bs 1); strong (-ss 27, b-tch 10, SOB 2)

Obscene Language: Many (49) times - mild (sodomy 1); moderate (cr-p 1, s-ck 2); strong (f-word 1, s-word 38, d-ck 1, b-lls 5)

Profanity: Several (8) times - moderate (OMG 1); strong (GD 4, J 2, JC 1)

Violence: Many times - mild (intimidation among inmates, manipulation and unfair treatment by guards towards prisoners, car crashes into police car, threat to slit another person's throat, man hits another man with the butt of a gun); moderate (man kicks another man in the chest, man hits man in the back with a billy club, man is hit in the gut with a football, man is hit in the groin with a football, a rubber bullet grenade is thrown into a group of prisoners, man in kicked in the groin, men fight and throw punches instead of playing football, man is elbowed in the nose causing bleeding, man is hit in the mouth causing blood to come out, stabbing, shooting); strong (an explosion causes the death of a prisoner)

Sex: mild (a man spanks a woman's bottom); moderate (female prison secretary arranges to take sexual advantage of a male prisoner - there is an implied sexual encounter)

Nudity: Few times - mild (camera focuses on the buttocks of women in bikinis, man in his underwear, men in showers with nothing below waist shown, crack of a man's buttocks is shown, men in athletic supporters); moderate (buttocks shown of men undressing in a locker room, male buttocks shown as he does a cheerleading flip)

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Several times - mild (innuendo regarding sex between two men, innuendo from a female secretary towards a male prisoner, a homosexual man becomes infatuated with another man and says ?I think that I?m in love,? man comments that his wife has a nice -ss); moderate (football player advises another player to ?protect his McNuggets?); strong (an effeminate male comments on what he would like to do to another man; man speaks about another man?s endowment as being like a hammer and an iguana; man holds a cowboy over his crotch, and the hat appears to be held in place by his aroused male anatomy; athletic supporters are distributed to football players, and a grossly oversized supporter is given to the tallest member of the team)

Drugs: Few times - mild (alcohol use); moderate (man is drunk and drinking while driving a car); strong (steroids are used to enhance strength, estrogen is used in place of steroids to produce the opposite effect)

Other: Racial slurs with the n-word used four times, man in prison sells hamburgers to other prisoners and pulls a wrapped hamburger out of the crotch of his pants, there is an effort to manipulate and coerce a character to cheat

Running Time: 109 minutes
Intended Audience: Teenagers and adults

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