Film Review: CHAMPIONS (2023): Woody Harrelson is Fun to Watch in Bobby Farrelly’s Winning Basketball Comedy

Champions Review

Champions (2023) Film Review, a movie directed by Bobby Farrelly, written by Mark Rizzo, Javier Fesser and David Marques and starring Woody Harrelson, Kaitlin Olson, Matt Cook, Ernie Hudson, Cheech Marin, Madison Tevlin, Joshua Felder, Kevin Iannucci, Ashton Gunning, Matthew Von Der Ahe, Tom Sinclair, James Day Keith, Alex Hintz, Casey Metcalfe, Bradley Edens, Alexandra Castillo and Mike Smith.

Director Bobby Farrelly brings a hysterically funny and warm-hearted comedy to the screen with the new film, Champions. Woody Harrelson is the perfect actor to cast in the leading role in a film like Champions because Harrelson has always felt like the underdog throughout his career. A talented actor, to be sure, Harrelson wowed audiences in the 1990’s in movies like The People vs. Larry Flynt but always felt underrated, for whatever reason.  Now, in Farrelly’s winning Champions, Harrelson is cast in the role of a minor league basketball coach named Marcus who gets court-ordered to train a new group of people but they’re not your typical athletes. They’re a group of folks with intellectual disabilities on a team known as “the Friends.” Farrelly makes “the Friends” a memorable collection of lovable misfits and the movie is, above all else, entertaining as a result.

This film opens with Marcus sleeping with a woman named Alex (Kaitlin Olson) who thinks he’s something of a loser although she admits he wasn’t that bad in bed when they meet again later on in the picture. At work, Marcus pushes the main coach on his team, Phil Perretti (Ernie Hudson), on the basketball court and, as a result, Marcus gets fired. He wanted Phil to make a different strategy call for their team but Phil didn’t listen to him. Marcus soon drives drunk and hits the back of a police car with his own vehicle. A Judge (Alexandra Castillo) then orders Marcus to do community service for 90 days or go to jail. So, Marcus ends up coaching at a school where people with disabilities are playing ball.

Anyone who has seen a sports movie before will know the formula employed here. The team that Marcus takes on will soon turn out to have a lot of talent and the coach will lead them to victory while learning to be a better person as a result. However, this movie feels unique because of the way it effectively deals with the disabled population. One such character in the movie doesn’t want to shower, so Marcus tries to get him under the water and using some soap. Another character named Darius (Joshua Felder) won’t play for Marcus although Darius is the best basketball player of the bunch. We found out why he won’t play later on in the film. Another character from “the Friends” works in a restaurant (he’s played by James Day Keith) where he is unfairly treated by his boss. The most hysterical character in the film is Cosentino (the charming Madison Tevlin), a wise-cracking girl who comes off the injured list and helps Marcus coach the team effectively.

Cheech Marin makes a welcome appearance as Julio, who is the chief contact at the school where Marcus coaches. Marin’s appearance is brief but helps drive home the message of the movie: “You don’t have to turn them into the Lakers. They just want to feel like part of a team,” he says. It is Kaitlin Olson who plays Alex that steals the movie, however. Alex likes performing Shakespeare in her spare time and her brother, Johnny (Kevin Iannucci) is on Marcus’ team. Alex and Marcus learn to like each other through helping the team although they both know Marcus will bail and leave town after the 90 days of community service are up? Or will he? Olson’s character cracks some funny one-liners and the character she plays has a terrifically rendered personality which makes Alex relatable and enjoyable to watch.

Madison Tevlin has some laugh-out-loud funny scenes. She brings some skis to a hotel with the team at one point and Marcus points out that there’s no skiing where they are staying. Let’s just say the skis don’t go unused. Tevlin makes the most of every moment she’s in the film and when she helps Marcus coach, the results are crowd-pleasing to be sure.

Not everything works perfectly in Champions. A scene where Marcus has dinner with Alex and her family feels like it only exists to create drama in the plot and unnecessarily creates tension between the characters of Alex and Marcus. Also the reaction by the team to Marcus’s attempts to find another job sometimes rings false. Finally, some of the ending scenes feel tacked on but this movie still overcomes these obstacles to provide a pleasant movie-going experience.

Woody Harrelson is the glue that holds Farrelly’s movie together. Harrelson is so down-to-earth here that the actor elevates the performance above what it could have been in a lesser performer’s hands. Harrelson creates some nice chemistry with Olson as well making us root for their romance in the movie.

If Champions doesn’t break any new ground with its story, it still provides the viewer with a funny series of scenes that will make audiences root for the underdogs. Harrelson makes it all worthwhile as the flawed coach who has one last shot at success. Stay put as the credits roll as the cast dances to the 1990’s song “Tubthumping (I Get Knocked Down)” as well. Champions is the type of movie that everyday audiences will love to watch and Bobby Farrelly has always been an advocate for people with disabilities and he successfully brings some sensitivity to the comedy as well through his inspired direction.

Rating: 7/10

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