‘Champions’

protagonist. Gradually, he and the members of the team learn some fundamentals and lower their defenses off the court.

No longer a man with an estranged relationship with his wife, Coach Marcus is a lone wolf whom we meet following an expedient Tinder hookup with struggling actor Alex (Kaitlin Olson). She turns out to be the older sister of one of Marcus’ players, Johnny (Kevin Iannucci, terrific), who has Down syndrome.

The neurodivergent characters in “Champions” all get their chances to shine. But there’s a nagging, patronizing air in the way some of the material’s shaped for sight gags.

There are, however, compensations. Olson, known for “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” keeps her scenes with Harrelson fresh and honest. Des Moines is played by Winnipeg, Canada, and for once in a modestly budgeted studio project, you see the snow and the cold and appreciate it; it serves the story. Also, neurodivergent moviegoing factions are so starved for representation, the film is sure to be embraced. I just wish the side characters weren’t treated as such, and that “Champions” wasn’t mostly about one more coach’s bottoming-out and redemption. Remaking the 2018 movie, the filmmakers missed a chance to focus more on the players.

On the other hand, one person attending a preview screening of “Champions” said to his friend, as the credits rolled: “I want to be in that movie!” That’s an honest affirmation. There are moments that develop some intriguing complexity, including a dinner sequence — Marcus is over for supper at the home of his sort-of girlfriend, her brother and their mother — and the bottled-up feelings finally come out in ways that sound like real life. Disarming one minute, baldly manipulative the next, “Champions” is a tricky one. At one point Marcus compliments his players for coping with “the stuff you guys put up with from ignorant people every day,” and while that, too, is rooted in reality, the movie itself extends a hand to these characters even as it tells its preferred redemption story.

MPA rating: PG-13 (for strong language and crude/sexual references)

Running time: 2:03

How to watch: In theaters