Glucedee
It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
Keeley Coleman
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Rosie Searle
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Steve Pulaski
Rebound is a film where its prefix "re" can apply to a lot of adjectives used to describe the quality of the final product. For one, it's a retread of a formula that needs some reworking, and it's gotten to the point where the film industry should reconsider this unattractive and wholly uninteresting formula be retired.But why bother retiring a successful formula? Even though Rebound was a pretty hefty financial failure, the demand for these kinds of cheery, harmless family films is quite high. For one, they are the best kinds of babysitters, for they keep the little ones marginally silent for an hour or two and don't need much explaining, and secondly, they are so innocuous to the point where very few, if any, jokes, innuendos, or references need be explained. These kinds of films bathe in their own clichés, and usually drag the leading actor or actress down with their lackluster conduct.Rebound is unfortunately not an exception; it's a miserably safe affair, so much so that the jokes feel like they were rewritten a few times over in act of screen writing desensitization to make sure nothing dirty snuck through. You know the plot by simply looking at the film's poster, so there's not much purpose in reiterating its contents. Martin Lawrence plays Coach Roy McCormick, a once respected and dignified college basketball coach turned endorsement-mongering sellout, who gets kicked to the curb by the NCBA after his latest episode involves the death of the opposing team's mascot's pet bird, McCormick's manager (Breckin Meyer) is now scrambling to find McCormick some sort of coaching opportunity to which he responds to a request for a rag-tag, middle school basketball team by the name of the Mount Vernon Smelters, who haven't won a game in years, much to the principal's (Horatio Sanz) dismay. McCormick does the gig for free to show that he is in it for the kids and the love of the game, and it becomes unsurprising when we see McCormick actually develop a love and appreciation for the students of Mount Vernon Junior High School, in true, predictable film fashion.Even after summarizing the basic idea of the plot, the mean-spirit of the film's leading character just sticks out to me more. Here we have another leading male in a film who we are supposed to resonate with and support after he throws a colossal temper-tantrum and is passive-aggressive to a group of misfit tweens he is now forced to coach. If it wasn't the attitude on our lead character that was such a deal breaker to this film, the abundance of indifference is the nail in the coffin. Now, predictability doesn't always have to be a bad thing, for just because you predicted the ending or a certain plot-twist to a film shouldn't corrupt the surrounding elements of a movie entirely. However, when a film is erected from the ground-up on what seems to be nothing more than petty formula is when this becomes my main complaint.Rebound is one of those films; a film so content on striving for mediocrity that it manages to be almost instantaneously forgettable all around. Further mix in elements that come directly from The Bad News Bears to the point of almost being classifiable as a rip-off or plagiarism, to not developing any of the children Coach McCormick is sent to coach, and seal the deal with grating sentimentality at the end and you have the recipe for a disastrous and unsubstantial family affair. With the wealth of invaluable film entertainment geared towards families made only more readily accessible by Netflix and other streaming services, you'd be beyond foolish to settle for the incorrigible rehash that is Rebound.Starring: Martin Lawrence, Wendy Raquel Robinson, and Breckin Meyer. Directed by: Steve Carr.
Electrified_Voltage
It's been a few years since this family sports comedy was unleashed upon the world and turned out to be a commercial flop, but it only came to my attention very recently. I guess that was because I recognized Martin Lawrence, who plays the starring role here. He has appeared in a good number of films in his career, but before seeing this one, the only film I had seen him in was "Big Momma's House" (though I had also seen some of his stand-up comedy). To me, that 2000 comedy turned out to be a mixed blessing, which was better than I thought it would be. I may not have had any good reason to watch "Rebound", but I watched it anyway! It seemed that this unpopular movie was generally considered to be unfunny and clichéd, so I wasn't surprised at how little I found amusing in it.Coach Roy McCormick is an egotistical college basketball coach who has trouble controlling his temper. After a violent outburst on the court causes him to accidentally kill the opposing team's bird mascot, he will be banned for life from college basketball unless he can get through an entire season without any more blowups like this! He doesn't get to coach college basketball this season, and will have to prove himself elsewhere before he can return. Meanwhile, the Mount Vernon Junior High School Smelters are all terrible basketball players, and decide they will need a highly skilled coach if they're going to get any better. They decide that Roy would be a great choice, so he gets an offer to coach this middle school team and takes it, only so he can prove himself to be a competent coach and go back to coaching college basketball as soon as possible. However, this experience doesn't turn out to be quite what he expects, and working with these middle school students might change his attitude! Near the beginning of the film, the humour isn't hilarious, but there were times when I at least smiled. However, that changes VERY soon as we're introduced to the members of the Mount Vernon Junior High School team by Annie and Amy, two student sports reporters who appear frequently in the film and don't help with the laughs. This sequence is especially lame when we are shown the Ralph character about to vomit and the Fuzzy character walking down the hall and stuffing his face before getting hit by a door. From this point on, I don't think anything even put a smile on my face. The members of the team who are supposed to be funny definitely fail at that, and when Roy is warned that Ralph throws up whenever he is nervous, it sounds like this player's vomiting could be much more of a running gag than it turns out to be, but it's still memorably unfunny when it happens. When the Big Mac and Wes characters join the team, they don't contribute any laughs to the film, either. This includes the times when Big Mac beats up any peer who gives her trouble, which COULD be funny, but it's not.I'm sure many hate Martin Lawrence as a comedian, which I certainly don't, and while nobody is very funny at all in this movie, including him, his performance is not exactly what makes "Rebound" so bad. I think the performances of those who play the members of the Mount Vernon team generally contribute a lot more to the lack of laughs here than Lawrence does. I'm sorry, I know Tara Correa-McMullen, who plays Big Mac, was killed in a gang shooting at the age of only sixteen the same year this movie came out, and her role here was the only one she ever got to play on the silver screen (it appears she acted in a couple TV shows, but this was her only movie), but this includes her. So, overall, this 2005 flop is just another lacklustre PG-rated family sports movie, and its clichéd formula may not be as big a problem as its poor humour and uninteresting characters. If you want a sports comedy that's actually funny, one marketed as a family film or not, I suggest you skip this particular movie and look elsewhere.
g-bodyl
This is one of those typical sports movie that everyone knows the outcome. I knew what was going to happen, but I kind of enjoyed myself somewhat. Martin Lawrence brings a good presence to the screen no matter what movie he's in. The kids were sweet but I can compare them to the kids in Kicking and Screaming.This is about a hotshot college basketball coach who has been banned from life because of his anger management. The only way to get his reputation back is that he has to coach a misfit middle school team.Overall, this was a decent film. I have seen better sports films. I probably would not have seen this if I wasn't forced to by my summer camp. I rate this film 7/10.
Diand
College basketball coach Roy McCormick is almost banned for life due to his aggressive behavior, but as his agent finds a clause in the rules that he must have another chance first, he ends up training a middle school team, the Mount Vernon Junior High School Smelters. As those movies go, after a few confrontations everyone works together to become champions. Add a love interest for the coach and some diversity in the characters of the team.One of the more funny scenes involves shy Wes and over-assertive Big Mac (this time not meant as a product placement I hope) ending up in a romance. Another thing well done is the way the coach instructs his team. Like in Coach Carter he takes time to learn the middle school team about passing, communication and rebounding. Martin Lawrence tries hard but lacks the comedy skills Eddie Murphy has. He even plays more than one character like Murphy did in Coming to America.Most Hollywood movies only get a bad treatment just because they are made in Hollywood. But Rebound gives those Hollywood-haters exactly the ammo they wish, as it is the kind of formulaic movie that has not a shred of intelligent writing, storytelling, directing or acting to be fond of (and being a kid's movie is not an excuse for that). The story has been told so many times that Rebound is boring to the extreme, as there is total predictability.
