On January 26, the sports comedy “The Outsiders” premiered on the Prime Video platform, starring the famous rapper Snoop Dogg. In this review, we tell you what kind of football coach he made for a children’s team and whether this film has anything to offer other than lofty tirades about inflexibility and other stale genre tropes. And the main thing is whether the jokes here are funny.
Pros:
the film promotes goodness and avoids slipping into complete comedy trash; events take place against the backdrop of a pleasant sunny setting; Snoop Dogg’s extravagant outfits deserve special mention
Minuses:
the movie is a complete template with a lazy script and dubious humor; No one else attracts attention except Snoop Dogg
“The Outsiders” / The Underdoggs
Genre sports comedy
Directed by Charles Stone III
Starring: Snoop Dogg, Tika Sumpter, Mike Epps, Andrew Schultz, George Lopez, Kal Penn
Prime Video Premiere
Year of manufacture 2024
IMDb website
Jason “JJ” Jennings is a former college football star turned arrogant and narcissistic whose best days are far behind him. Jennings has a bad reputation, so there was no place for him on sports television programs as an expert. Even Viktor Leonenko once conquered this peak, but fans are well aware of the difficult character of the former Dynamo Kyiv forward.
After JJ gets into an unpleasant accident, the court obliges the offender to undergo correctional labor. Instead of the coveted broadcasts on television, the hero is forced to pull on an orange vest, throw a dog poop bag over his shoulder and go out into the streets to make the world a cleaner place.
On one of the sports fields, Jennings notices a children’s American football team that has just been left without a coach. Without much enthusiasm, the former athlete decides to take on the function of a mentor, not yet suspecting that this mission will become fateful not only for small brats, but also for the unlucky shit cleaner.
A comedy with Snoop Dogg, and even rated R, is already a fairly comprehensive description of the film. But there is nothing here that one would expect from a proper adult film labeled “a comedy with Snoop Dogg.”
The extravagant rapper limits himself to a few joints, the heroes will utter a set of standard “motherfuckers”, and that’s all. No parties with half-naked girls in slow-mo, no show-offs with money guns, or whatever is fashionable with the cool kids from the West Coast.
On the contrary, “The Outsiders” is not about the brutal at all, but about the light, about the good itself. This is an extremely cute story, almost childish. Of course, within the framework of the completely obvious worldview of Snoop Dogg and local authors, but still promoting family values, agitating for self-sacrifice, bringing down one’s own arrogance and humane attitude towards others. Also, and this is appropriate, the film directly references Disney’s The Mighty Ducklings (1992) with Emilio Estevez.
The only pity is that a good initiative is based on blatantly typical genre tropes, seasoned with a pinch of weak humor. Snoop Dogg’s luxurious bows evoke a more powerful response than weak jokes, most of them built on swearing, less often – sticking out the middle finger.
You have to understand that the comedy component of this project suggests a drunken children’s party with obligatory urination in the pool, the association of a soccer ball with a woman’s breasts and a corresponding nickname for one of the guys – Titties. The humor used by the creators is mostly school-based and extremely lazy. In general, this epithet eloquently characterizes the entire film: there is a lazy script, a lazy implementation of it on the screen, a relaxed performance.
Snoop Dogg, sporting his signature Squid Tracksuit, feels so epically relaxed that he feels like he’s experienced heaven on Earth. The complete idiot is played by Mike Epps, whom you probably saw 20 years ago in the zombie action movie “Resident Evil: Apocalypse” (his character is the only one who somehow stood out from the gray mass led by Jovovich). Kal Penn, the star of the teen franchise “King of the Parties”, and also Kumar from “Harold and Kumar Go Away,” gained a little weight, got a goatee, and that’s all that can be said about his participation in the film. There’s not much to say about others, in particular, child actors.
It is known that Snoop Dogg founded a youth football league in Los Angeles and organizes sports tournaments. But it’s better to let this charitable initiative be limited to holding teenage championships and not extend to cinema, because nothing good came out of it.
It’s gratifying that the plot does not slide into the level of trash comedies with very low-grade humor. However, this tiny victory over bad taste looks very modest against the background of completely secondary, damn lazy material.
Conclusion:
“The Outsiders” is exactly the case when the R rating is not beneficial, but rather the opposite. It allows the creators to rely on primitive humor without the slightest invention, but selective swearing will not amuse anyone today.
