No surprise — ‘Champions’ is a feel-good winner
Rhode Island filmmakers Bobby Farrelly and his the Academy Award-winning brother and frequent collaborator Peter Farrelly (“Green Book”) have been acknowledged for their support of people with disabilities since their 1996 film “Kingpin.” “Champions” features “Kingpin” lead Woody Harrelson as a talented, hot-headed Iowa assistant basketball coach named Marcus Markovich.
Marcus is not getting any younger and desperate to land a job with the NBA. After experiencing a meltdown on the court and pushing his friend and boss, the respected lead coach Phil Perretti (Ernie Hudson), to the ground on camera, Marcus gets loaded and then crashes into the back of a parked police car. In exchange for hard time, Marcus agrees on the advice of the judge (Alexandra Castillo) to 90 days of community service, coaching a special needs team made up of young players with intellectual challenges. Some of the players have Down Syndrome. Others experienced traumatic births or brain trauma of some sort. They are all individuals and mostly eccentric.
Chief among them might be Cosentino (Madison Tevlin), a diminutive take-no-nonsense fireball you do not want to get on the wrong side of. A tall, gangly player named Showtime (Bradley Edens) insists on shooting with his back to the basket and never getting it in. Johnny (Kevin Ianucci), who works at an animal hospital, is actually quite good on the court. But he refuses to take a shower to the acrid dismay of all. Tall and strong team player Benny (James Day Keith) works in a restaurant whose cruel owner keeps him shut away from the customers and won’t give him time off for games.
Craig (Matthew Von Der Ahe) works at a dye factory and can’t stop talking about his threesomes. Darius (Joshua Felder), the best player by a long shot, suffered a severe brain injury in a car accident. He was headed to the NBA at the time. Cheech Marin plays Julio, the gentle manager of the facility where the team practices. Emmy nominee Kaitlin Olsen (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) is a standout as Johnny’s beautiful and smart-mouthed sister and protector Alex, who is also Marcus’ lover. Alex belongs to some oddball Shakespeare company. Marcus’ problem as a coach is that he “does not know his players as people.” He has the same problem off the court. While he jokes about “going all ‘Hoosiers,’ ” the observation is correct, and his time with his new team might change that.
A remake of the Goya
Award-winning 2018 Spanish film “Campeones,” “Champions” is not exactly a whodunnit. We all know where this feelgood train is headed to the tune of Chumbawamba’s 1997 anthem “Tubthumping” (“I get knocked down, but I get up again”). Farrelly, who co-directed “There’s Something About Mary” (1998), “Dumb and Dumber” (1994) and “Me, Myself & Irene” (2000), makes his belated solo directing debut here, and he is predictably solid. Meanwhile,
“White Men Can’t Jump” veteran Harrelson still has game. Marcus delivers a passionate ode to the “pick and roll” play. Cosentino reminds Marcus that in the looks department, he is “no McConnaughey.” The supporting cast is talented, funny, charismatic and real. In the past, such roles were often played by actors who were not disabled. The throwback Mad Magazinestyle style-B poster for the film perfectly captures its rebel crackpot — “What, Me Worry?” — essence. The film’s basketball ball finals are held in Winnipeg, where the film was shot in 2021. Go “Champions.”
(“Champions” contains profanity and sexually suggestive language)