'The Longshots' Is a Winner

On the surface, "The Longshots" is your basic inspirational sports movie.

It's got the based-on-a-true-story concept; it's got the emotional score; it's got the plucky underdogs who are perennial losers. But it's also got the hat, that little porkpie that Ice Cube wears. Sylvester Stallone also wore it in the first "Rocky," and, flaws not withstanding, the comparison is apt.

Jasmine Plummer (Keke Palmer) lives in the little town of Minden, Ill., and has no interest in sports. Her father is absent, and so she needs adult supervision when her mother (Tasha Smith) takes on extra hours at the diner. Jasmine's disreputable uncle Curtis (Ice Cube) is enlisted to look after her in the afternoon.

When he realizes that she has a natural throwing arm and that the local Pop Warner football team is in desperate need of a quarterback, he pushes her to try out. The rest of the story follows the familiar formula closely but not slavishly. The film works so well because the sports elements are the least important.

"The Longshots" was filmed in Louisiana, and it has the faded, used-up, lived-in look of a good 1970s movie. The characters have an equally realistic appearance that's rarely seen in Hollywood productions these days. Palmer ("Akeelah and the Bee") is believable and charming, and Ice Cube doesn't try to upstage her. For the most part, they underplay the big emotional moments, and the film is all the more effective for that restraint.

Fred Durst, from the group Limp Bizkit, directs with the unsophisticated simplicity that the story requires.

And in a time when so many movies throw in so much casual profanity, it's heartening to see one where the characters, even in the most cathartic stressful moments, are able to express themselves honestly and forcefully without cursing. That attitude earns "The Longshots" a solid recommendation for all audiences.

-- Mike Mayo

The Longshots PG, 94 minutes Contains mild language and brief rude humor. Area theaters.