The Longshots (2008)

6/10

2.9? Really? Come on, that's not being fair, this was a decent movie

Smells_Like_Cheese27 August 2008

I know that this movie is getting a lot of hate, but I still wanted to check out The Longshots, once again, this is a movie that I am just baffled by all the hate. I thought this movie was actually decent and watchable, I know that the main reason why this movie is getting the bad reviews from IMDb users is because of Fred Durst, not to mention that everyone seems to hate Ice Cube's career choices. But honestly, this movie was inspiring and uplifting, there wasn't any harm done in this movie and it was different from other sport movies. We are used to the underdog usually being a guy in these movies, it's because of race, money, looks, or mental disabilities, for once we have a movie about the pressures of being a girl who is into sports who also enjoys being a girlie girl as well. The Longshots is also fun to watch and doesn't fall flat or becomes predictable like most sports movies.

Jasmine Plummer is a loner at her school, always having her head in a book, her mother works long hours and her father abandoned them. Her mom asks Curtis, Jasmine's father's brother, to babysit her after school while she's working, Curtis complains all the way and even has to be paid to do the job. But when Curtis plays ball with the town minister, he discovers that Jasmine has quite an arm and makes her try out for the football team while he trains her. Jasmine takes back the team's loosing streak and she and Curtis start to finally love each other.

The Longshots isn't movie of the year and it's not the best sports movie either, but I thought it was a decent movie to watch. Like I said, it's different and I thought for what everyone was expecting, Fred Durst did a good job of directing and Ice Cube is a lovable character that makes a great role model. I would recommend The Longshots for a matinée or a rental, don't take the IMDb rating so seriously, because I think it's just one of those hater's issues where the people who think it's going to be bad automatically just vote 1 without seeing it. So give this movie a fair chance, it's a good family movie to watch.

6/10

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6/10

Very good movie

castoirebenjamin19 August 2019

I don't understand why people troll certain movies to get their rating low. It's always the same kind of movies that they troll. This was a very good and feel good true story. Sit back and enjoy this movie with your family.

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5/10

Ignore the low rating!.

chrichtonsworld27 November 2008

This movie doesn't do anything new. And yes,it is full of clichés. Who cares! People who love the genre will watch it anyways. This movie does what it aims for. And that is make you feel good. Nothing more nothing less. My only complaint is that it could have used more jokes. Keke Palmer as Jasmine is the first woman to take part in The Pop Warner Football Tournament. Surely they could have come up with more scenes to exploit this. Or at least show her struggle before being accepted as a team member of all boys. I also would have loved to learn more about Jasmin Plummer (Does she still play football?). Overall this movie is adequate and certainly not as bad as the low rating suggests.

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5/10

An Average Film That Could've Been Worse

jeffronthi22 August 2008

This is a sentimental feel-good family flick that may not shines above some in its genre, but is kinda fun, nonetheless. This does not come packed with all the bells and whistles, but succeeds in its honesty. No offense to Fred Durst's direction, but I thought this film was going to be worse than what it turned out to be. I was slightly, not a lot mind you, surprised.

It is not the greatest movie I have seen, but I was able to sit through it without getting an attitude; not just for the sake of my kid sister.

For what it is, and the viewer market it is aiming at, I think it is fine for the kids.

5/10. Recommended for the children.

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6/10

interesting family film,well done

curtisjanetta41430 August 2008

this was an interesting family film,and for the most part it was well done.It was decent,no bad language,so it was great for all to see. I think it was obvious that it was all males behind the scenes ,perhaps it would have had a better solid feel to it ,if it would have had a woman director?Just a thought. Some of the scenes felt off.As a female athlete who once played football,it seemed somewhat off, but overall the acting was good,and at times very funny. The development of the relationship between the uncle and niece was actually pretty well done.Overall a good sports movie,about looking at what we have and not at what we don't have.

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The haters continue to hate!

BudoSenpai25 June 2023

Black people need to get involved more with the ratings - inform other Black people to do the same. The "Trolls" set-up accounts just so they can hate! Some of them don't even watch the movie, they just hop on here and hit 1/10 just to be spiteful. You've seen what they did to The Little Mermaid and other Black movies.

Jasmine Plummer, was born in Harvey, Illinois, and she is an American football player who was the first-ever female quarterback for a Pop Warner football team. At the age of 11 years old, she made history as the first female quarterback in the 56th Annual Pop Warner Super Bowl (Junior Pee Wee division); however, her team, the Harvey Colts, lost in the semifinals.

Jasmine was the real deal! Now, Plummer plays running back for the Nevada Storm in the semi-pro Women's Football Alliance. She led the team to a Division III national championship in her 2019 All-Stars season. In the following 2021 season, Plummer earned All-Stars recognition again, being named American Conference MVP en route to another championship in Division II.

Do you think that maybe if this was about a little white girl the rating would be much higher?

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4/10

true story?

matrix_prince_11111 December 2008

yup, i'd say this is a decent family movie. good for teaching' kids this and that. but personally, i just think this movie is really hard to believe. upon finished watching', the only thought in my head was "this cannot be real". it's so full of it it was annoying. "there could exist a team so bad it could never win a match then only with this girl it won its way to the national final match?" "if this team result was that terrible why the previous coach lasted for years?" "ok, a girl who never touched football before can play better than all the boys her age just after 2 weeks of training". oh, come on. other parts of the movie are good, but since the main athletic side of the story is not at all persuasive i felt like i wasted my time watching' it. acting was not especially good, but not bad.

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7/10

Ice Cube

kairingler12 July 2013

this movie tells the true story of an 11 yr old black girl who is the first girl ever to play on a Pop Warner football team, and she plays qb as well. Ice Cube does a great job in the film I thought, he plays an uncle who is taking care of his niece because the real dad is either in prison, or away somewhere not taking care of his child. the girl has to go thru many struggles to make it on the team, and at first she really doesn't like her uncle or even get along with him for that matter,, but he was a football player, so he decides one day to play catch with her,, and the two start throwing the football around, and he sees something in her that he used to have,, so he coaches her up and low and behold we got the girl trying out for the football team.. great family movie and should not be missed.

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7/10

Simple, well-done family film; a little deeper than most.

Screen-73 September 2008

I found this movie surprisingly satisfying and would recommend it over most family films with much higher budgets. It deals with important developmental issues but has an engaging plot to carry it along.

My 8-year old daughter saw both "The Longshots" and "Wall-E" on the same weekend and said she enjoyed "Longshots" more! I am always encouraged when small-budget movies hold their own against the big, hyped Hollywood movies.

Ice-Cube did a good job with the central role and the other supporting actors were fine as well. Keke Palmer's limited acting range holds back the film a little bit but she is still a compelling character.

The film's plot is fairly predictable but there is a couple of non-standard turns that add some complexity to a story line that has been told before.

Yes, all the central characters are African-American but the issues are not unique to that community. Most children of any ethnicity should relate to the interpersonal issues.

Best I can tell, the PG-13 comes from a frank portrayal of alcohol use and a couple of anatomical jokes. The jokes would be pretty standard fair on network TV.

Unless you are very sensitive to this sort of thing, I think the move would be appropriate for a child about 8 or 9 and above. Below that, most children might miss the social and developmental issues which make the movie most worthwhile, anyway.

I used this movie as an opportunity to discuss with my child about some of the issues involved and it went really well.

In summary, this won't be the most fantastic movie you've ever seen, but I think a lot of families will go away saying, "That was better than I expected!"

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10/10

just Ignore the low rating!

mosaddeghian6 October 2009

A very good movie, Long shots is based on a true story of a run down town and a young lady that achieves confidence on the football field. Against all odds, the town as well as the girl learn to achieve simply by watching the girl overcome obstacles on the football field. This movie is good for all ages to see due to it is positive and it shows that anything can be done if you put the proper effort into it. The movie displays decent acting, humor and drama. Ice Cube, Keke Palmer, Tasha Smith, Jill Marie Jones, Dash Mihok did good work. The acting is very nice, Ice Cube, yes, (I've enjoyed his acting since the Boyz N the Hood days), Keke Palmer very believable as a tall misfit Jasmine Plummer, and the supporting cast. There's even a cool cameo by Garrett Morris (Saturday Night Live fame of the Chevy Chase / Steve Martin era). You won't be disappointed with watching this film.

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6/10

Enjoyable standard sports movie

drpainters17 May 2020

Fun enjoyable sports movie around a girl joining a football team n kicking ass. I would say it's worth a watch if you enjoy sports movies and would mention it to someone randomly as a worthwhile watch

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7/10

Very enjoyable movie the whole family can enjoy.

albee20913 June 2021

I really enjoyed the movie. Very uplifting movie the whole family can watch. Its different than other sports movies, plus its based on a true story. It may not win an academy award, but if you want to watch a fun uplifting movie the whole family can enjoy, I'd highly recommend it.

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6/10

Very Good True Story

rstone-275 September 2008

I gave this movie a 6 due to the fact of the touching true nature and the way it was directed.

This "accident" actually happened, she was the very first female quarter back to play in the Warner Super Bowl...

It takes you to places most of us want to either forget, or never experienced, it lets you see the emotional turmoil of true life events..

The sport shots are standard Hollywood and normally very seldom actually happen on the field but there has to be some substance to the movie to make the story move along so well.

I liked it... Hope you do.

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8/10

A warm family movie

gkellymath28 February 2009

My entire family enjoyed The Longshots, based on the true story of an eleven year old girl who played quarterback on a Pop Warner football team. The movie makes no pretense of being the world's greatest sport movie. It is however an inspiring, wholesome story. Both Ice Cube and Kiki Palmer are excellent in this movie.

As the parent of two children of color, I appreciated the fact that even though the lead characters are African American and many of the other characters are White, race was not an issue in this story. Both my 11 year old daughter and 13 year old son (who is a quarterback) enjoyed the movie without feeling preached to. The Longshots is especially appropriate for that age range.

The Longshots might have a fairly narrow audience. It is not for young children, and is probably not exciting enough for older teenagers and many adults. The situations are not over dramatized to increase the tension in the story. The Longshots is an inspiring film that especially should be seen by pre-teen girls and their families.

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9/10

Low Raters Don't Write Reviews

Kaleoboy6 July 2022

I think it's a decent movie. Not because I like Ice Cube, but the characters he played feels genuine. It's a family movie. So, don't be so critical of cliches or copycats.

Blame it on the rating system. It's too easy to tap on the screen from the app without saying why.

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9/10

A very fun family movie for everyone

robertallenandersonjr27 August 2008

The Longshots was a great family movie. In my opinion it was one of the greatest sports movies. This was a movie the whole family can enjoy. It was not very long at all. So that was a good thing about the movie along with the acting. The movies story was explained very well. It had a very good story to it as well. It was very heartwarming and a harmless movie. It even had many fun laughs. The jokes were original and the movie had a lot of heart. I would go see this movie again. I think it was very fun and entertaining. Not to many family movies can top this one. Definitely a movie I recommend going to see. It was entertaining and not boring at all. It might even make you cry. Go see it and have a fun time watching a girl play football.

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9/10

The sleeper hit of 2008!!

ifhedieshedies10 December 2008

Warning: Spoilers

In brief Longshots is the classic underdog story but with a few twists. Not only do we have a young,struggling,American rugby team we also have the struggle of a young girl trying to earn respect and gain a place in this young,struggling,American rugby team.

People may think they have seen hundreds of these types of films before, Mighty Duck's (the ice hockey one with Billy the Kid as the head coach) and Little Giant's (the American rugby one with Louis Tully as the head coach) to name two off the top of my head. Longshots however is a different breed of animal.The powerhouse performance of Ice Cube accompanied with the fantastic direction of Fred Durst makes this film a must see.

Ice Cube plays Curtis Plummer, a down and out with little in his life except American football and alcohol. He has a distant relationship with his niece, Jasmine Plummer, until fate brings them closer together. It is at this point that Curtis Plummer realises his young niece has a talent for throwing a Rugby ball a long way very accurately!. Without spoiling the rest of the film Ice Cube basically becomes a Yoda figure to Jasmine Plummer and trains her in the art of throwing a Rugby ball without going to the dark side (Laces out Dan!).

This film goes on to teach us a valuable life lesson. In one scene we have Curtis Plummer a smelling,dirty, down and out looking at the horrible state he has let himself become in a mirror. Whilst looking into this mirror and deep into his own heart does Curtis decide to change his ways? become a better uncle to Jasmine? become a role model to all those other down and outs around him? NO!!! he simply changes his shirt and puts on a bowler-esquire type hat. The message this gives to the young generation out there is that a small change can be all that is needed in life.

After raving about this film you may wonder why i did not give this film 10 stars. Well my only niggle with The Longshots is the soundtrack. Instead of the kids winning their first American rugby game and a mediocre run of the mill instrumental accompanying the scene why not add Ice Cubes own masterpiece Roll All Day to make this a truly epic scene and epic film!

For this film to be at a meager 2.7 on IMDb is a utter disgrace. What Durst,Cube and Cube vision have created is a minor miracle. GO BUY IT!

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8/10

Better than you think it will be

dbborroughs11 October 2008

Warning: Spoilers

Ice Cube stars in the inspiring and very well done (by Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit?) of the first girl to quarterback a team in the Pop Warner Championship game.

Yes its by the numbers and yes you kind of almost (though not quite) know how its going to come out, but at he same time Ice Cube and the rest of the cast sell the cliché and you really don't mind watching. High art? Hardly, but a good little film that is surprisingly better than the dozen or so similar films from the last couple of years (and trust me I think I've seen most of them and suffered through the uninspiring lot of them.

Worth a look on cable if nothing else.

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9/10

More than pleasant

DrMoMo14 February 2011

Why does this have such a low rating? I am starting to get the impression that people rate movies bad just because they have Ice Cube in them. Personally I think he is a great actor, director and artist in general.

'The Longshots' is a good family movie. Its exactly what you expect it to be and more. Inspiring, good vibes, entertaining and the acting and directing is not bad at all here! Don't be fooled by the low rating! The story could be more worked out and deepened here and there. But what good would it do? Fred Durst is doing a great job directing this. The camera work is surprisingly well done and professional. The cast is giving an overall balanced and artistic performance. Again: Why anyone would want to give this a bad rating, I don't know!

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10/10

For all the haters

rentmax-2942321 January 2019

One never knows what motivates people to give 1 and 2 particularly when they don't have a valid critique of the movie. This is a feel good movie based on a true story that is well executed with the typically lovable Ice Cube character. It's not the greatest sports film but no one expected it to be. It's well worth the popcorn and the time spent watching it alone or with friends. In actuality I would have rated it 7 out of 10 but felt the need to offset the low ballers.

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10/10

positive film for all ages

danceability5 June 2009

A very good movie, Long shots is based on a true story of a run down town and a young lady that achieves confidence on the football field. Against all odds, the town as well as the girl learn to achieve simply by watching the girl overcome obstacles on the football field. This movie is good for all ages to see due to it is positive and it shows that anything can be done if you put the proper effort into it. The movie displays decent acting, humor and drama. Ice Cube, Keke Palmer, Tasha Smith, Jill Marie Jones, Dash Mihok did good work. The acting is very nice, Ice Cube, yes, (I've enjoyed his acting since the Boyz N the Hood days), Keke Palmer very believable as a tall misfit Jasmine Plummer, and the supporting cast. There's even a cool cameo by Garrett Morris (Saturday Night Live fame of the Chevy Chase / Steve Martin era). You won't be disappointed with watching this film.

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10/10

A real "feel good" movie

jermaine9995 February 2011

This movie made my eyes water in some of the scenes. Ice Cube has a great eye for scripts that are family friendly and hilariously funny. One of the most heart warming movies I've ever seen. In a world full of TV shows like "Family Guy" and "That Cleveland Show", it is good to know that there are movies like this being made for our young people. But grown up would love it too! Great-Great-Great movie. In order to post this review, it has to be 10 lines long so I guys I will keep talking about how great the movie was....The quality of the production, Excellent! The story-line, Excellent! The writing, Excellent! The cinematography, World Class!. I hope you get a chance to see it. Now that's 11 lines :-)

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8/10

Don't pay attention to the low rating!!

fiftycentqueen16 December 2018

Very good, clean family movie. Ice Cube actually made me laugh a few times in this one. Watch it for yourself.

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9/10

2023. A Gen-X Review of a Decade-Plus Old Film That I've Never, Ever Seen Before

RightOnDaddio3 November 2023

Fred Durst directed this, and I had forgotten about that part. He did a fine job with this and should have been given more opportunities at other feature films in years since.

This is one of the better football movies of this 21st Century, but not that there have been slot of them. It's still good and I enjoyed it.

It was at times difficult to decipher the time period of this film at least at the beginning.

Is this the 1970's or is this just poverty-stricken rural America?

The film still looks great and I dug the vibe of it.

Excellent performances by Cube and Palmer.

Neato cameo by eventual Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl Champion Head Coach Doug Pederson as the coach of the opposing Calvary Cavaliers.

This is also one of Ice Cube's best performances and he's had many.

It's based on a true story and has all the things that we love about sports in movies: Risk, challenge, adversity and acceptance.

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8/10

Very good movie!

AndyVa21 February 2010

A very moving and uplifting story that can truly carry the tag "Against All Odds". This is another example that shows a decent movie can be made without sex, nudity, extreme violence and vulgar language. It may not be a blockbuster movie with allot of star power, but you won't be disappointed. It's a very good family movie for all ages and is still written well with very good acting. I would put this movie in the same category as "Finding Forrester"; another great sports related movie with an unknown actor playing the role of a character with a special talent, but meets resistance while trying to advance in life. The Longshots follows this same storyline and is a good (true story) movie about a small town girl who's father has left her and her mother, but finds the father figure she needs in her uncle. It shows how a talented small town girl can gain success when given the chance by society along with the love and support from family.

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