The Longshots (2008)

Director:

Fred Durst

Writer (WGA):

Nick Santora (written by)

Release Date:

22 August 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Family | Sport

Tagline:

The New Coach Has A Secret Weapon.

Plot:

The true story of Jasmine Plummer who, at the age of eleven, became the first female to play in Pop Warner football tournament in its 56-year history. |

Plot Keywords:

American Football | Middle School | Absent Father | Based On True Story

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ice Cube	...	Curtis Plummer
Keke Palmer	...	Jasmine
Tasha Smith	...	Claire Plummer
Jill Marie Jones	...	Ronnie Macer
Dash Mihok	...	Cyrus
Matt Craven	...	Coach Fisher
Glenn Plummer	...	Winston
Garrett Morris	...	Reverend Pratt
Miles Chandler	...	Damon Fisher
Malcolm Goodwin	...	Roy
Michael Colyar	...	Ennis
Dean Delray	...	Andrew Kosowski
Earthquake	...	Karl
Hugo Perez	...	Edgar Mejavar
Sheran Goodspeed Keyton	...	Barb

Also Known As:

The Perfect Match (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some thematic elements, mild language and brief rude humor.

Runtime:

USA:94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #44663) | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG | Netherlands:AL | Italy:T | Portugal:M/6

Filming Locations:

Minden, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Cube Vision

Trivia:

Keke Palmer trained for 6 weeks learning not only how to throw a football correctly, but also how to call plays as a real quarterback would do.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jasmine is reading her book in the cafeteria, the position of it changes from held up to down between front and rear shots.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Young and the Restless: (#1.8963)" (2008)

Simple, well-done family film; a little deeper than most.

I found this movie surprisingly satisfying and would recommend it over most family films with much higher budgets. It deals with important developmental issues but has an engaging plot to carry it along.

My 8-year old daughter saw both "The Longshots" and "Wall-E" on the same weekend and said she enjoyed "Longshots" more! I am always encouraged when small-budget movies hold their own against the big, hyped Hollywood movies.

Ice-Cube did a good job with the central role and the other supporting actors were fine as well. Keke Palmer's limited acting range holds back the film a little bit but she is still a compelling character.

The film's plot is fairly predictable but there is a couple of non-standard turns that add some complexity to a story line that has been told before.

Yes, all the central characters are African-American but the issues are not unique to that community. Most children of any ethnicity should relate to the interpersonal issues.

Best I can tell, the PG-13 comes from a frank portrayal of alcohol use and a couple of anatomical jokes. The jokes would be pretty standard fair on network TV.

Unless you are very sensitive to this sort of thing, I think the move would be appropriate for a child about 8 or 9 and above. Below that, most children might miss the social and developmental issues which make the movie most worthwhile, anyway.

I used this movie as an opportunity to discuss with my child about some of the issues involved and it went really well.

In summary, this won't be the most fantastic movie you've ever seen, but I think a lot of families will go away saying, "That was better than I expected!"