'The Longshots' an inspirational football movie based on true story

Last year brought us a really bad comedy called "The Comebacks," about a worthless college football team and its loser coach. The title of "The Longshots" is enough to raise the specter of that previous horror, but the only thing the two films have in common is football.

Ah, football -- a sport depicted onscreen so often that it deserves its own movie genre. And among football films as varied as "The Longshots," "The Comebacks," both versions of "The Longest Yard," "Varsity Blues," "Brian's Song," "We Are Marshall," "Jerry Maguire," "Rudy," "Heaven Can Wait" and "North Dallas Forty" there are enough cliches to fill a college course on them.

There are plenty in "The Longshots," a family-friendly affair that falls into the category: inspirational football movie; sub-category: based on a true story.

This tale is that of Jasmine Plummer, a girl who liked tossing a football around with her uncle, became the first female to play on a Pop Warner team and led it to the national championship playoffs. The end.

Except that since this is a movie, more conflict is needed. So Jasmine (Keke Palmer) becomes a middle-school outcast who's humiliated by the popular crowd and spends her time reading fantasy books. Her mother, Claire (Tasha Smith), is struggling to make ends meet and worries about Jasmine spending so much time alone.

Her uncle, Curtis (Ice Cube), was a top football player in high school whose dreams of gridiron glory were shot down by an injury. He went on to work a factory job in his small town, but the factory was closed and the town is dying, and now he's one step above a bum.

Claire pressures Curtis, her ex-husband's brother, to keep an eye on Jasmine. Since Curtis has nothing better to do (and Claire offers to pay him), he agrees. Jasmine isn't too happy about having a baby sitter.

Curtis accidentally discovers that Jasmine has an awesome throwing arm. At the same time, the local Pop Warner team coached by Fisher (Matt Craven) and Cyrus (Dash Mihok) has a terrible quarterback and no hope of a winning season. A light bulb goes off in Curtis' head.

The end? Well, not quite yet. But it's easy to see where "The Longshots" is headed.

While the movie does feel overly familiar even as it chronicles a "first," Cube peps it up with his portrayal of a grouchy, beer-swilling has-been who comes back to life when he gets back into the game, at least from the sidelines. And Palmer ("Akeelah and the Bee") is a terrific young actress who doesn't come out of any cookie-cutter mold.

Director Fred Durst (yes, the Limp Bizkit front man) and screenwriter Nick Santora pile on the schmaltz, but Cube and Palmer tackle the predictable drama with gusto. Their likable performances make "The Longshots" a good bet for moviegoing youngsters and the adults who want them to live their dreams.

Rated PG for some thematic elements, mild language and brief rude humor.

3 stars (out of five)

(Contact Knoxville News Sentinel film critic Betsy Pickle at pickle(at)knews.com.)