It’s always amazed me how Martin Lawrence has made as many movies as he has. Back in his salad days as a young comedian Lawrence made a name for himself as a candid, outspoken jokester with a passion for cussing; now his comedy is more Carrot-Top than it is Chris Rock, which pretty much sums up what you’ll find in his newest flick Rebound. Following a seemingly long string of PG-13 movies Lawrence plays acclaimed Ohio PolyTech basketball coach Roy McCormick, who after a Cinderella story style rise to fame gets caught up in the glitz and glamour of three state championships, caring more about endorsement deals than his track record in the NCBA. Throwing Ray Knight inspired tantrums on the court results in a suspension from the league and earns him a spot coaching the Mount Vernon Smelters, which coincidentally, is his old middle school. His exit from the league makes him the butt of the entire sports world and he finds himself working not to teach the kids basketball but to scrape up any dignity that can be had in coaching a middle school team that plays more like the Knicks than the Lakers.
Behind Lawrence is a strange mix of actors (if I can even say that) that would seem more fit for the Surreal Life than the big screen. Small time utility actor Breckin Meyer plays McCormick’s asshole agent Time Fink while SNL alumni Horatio Sanz plays Mr. Newirth, McCormick’s “Assistant Head Coach” that fetches lunch, bakes pizzas and sews cheerleader uniforms; Megan Mullally—annoying voice and all—plays Mount Vernon’s jaded Principal Walsh with attitude to spare; rounding out the bunch is McCormick’s contrived love interest Jeanie Ellis played by Wendy Raquel Robinson (who also starred opposite Lawrence in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate). The spare parts cast plays minimal roles and don’t add much to the movie but the familiar faces are more comforting than Lawrence’s swollen melon filling the majority of the movies frames.
Of course the rag-tag team of youngsters changes McCormick and he eventually becomes more passionate about this team of half-pints than any team he’s ever coached. Unfortunately the predictable script really takes any excitement out of the movie but despite the poorly written script the movie progresses from boring to bearable; I have to admit that before even stepping foot into the theatre I dreaded sitting through the movie but realized it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The David Carr directed film is really a half-assed attempt at a kids movie but with Big Momma’s House 2 on the way for now we
