MEAN MACHINE (2001) - Movie Review

Director: Barry Skolnick
Starring: Vinnie Jones, David Kelly, Jason Statham, David Hemmings, Ralph Brown, Vas Blackwood, Robbie Gee, Geoff Bell, John Forgeham, Danny Dyer, Jason Flemyng,Sally Phillips,Stephen Walters
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Writer: Charlie Fletcher, Chris Baker, Andrew Day
Runtime: 109 min
Rated: Rated R for language and some violence
Buy This Movie: DVD (Amazon), Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

From the producer of Snatch comes this rousing, rough-and-tumble story that shows spirit and heart can exist in the most unlikely places. and in the most unlikely men. Ex-soccer star Danny Meehan (Vinnie Jones) was sitting on top of the world ... until a sports-fixing scam ruined his career and an assault charge landed him in jail. When the prison's soccer-crazed warden (David Hemmings) asks Danny to coach the guards' soccer team, Danny counters with another idea: a match between the guards and the convicts. For the inmates, it's the dream of a lifetime: a dirty-no-holds-barred chance to face the malicious guards. But first, Danny must turn a group of murderers, thieves and madmen into something unthinkable: a team. Based on the film classic The Longest Yard, Mean Machine scores with its lineup of gritty action, colorful characters and hilarious comedy.

Review:

Produced by Matthew Vaughn ("Kick-Ass", "Kingsman", "Layer Cake") and executive produced by Guy Ritchie, the British comedy "Mean Street" is a remake of the 1974 Burt Reynolds classic "The Longest Yard". Another remake was released in 2005 with Adam Sandler in the lead role, but this 2001 version is much closer to the original's R-rated grit.

Shot like a music video and loaded with juvenile humor, it feels like a Guy Ritchie flick made by a teenage fan. First-time helmer Barry Skolnick tries a little too hard to emulate Ritchie's style, but can't quite nail the right tone. The humor is a lot more miss than hit, and the mix between comedy and prison drama is extremely uneven. True to the original, we get an ensemble of quirky characters, but also one extremely disturbing and unpleasant one, who does get his comeuppance after chewing the entire prison scenery, but is just another example of the movie going over-the-top for no reason.

The cast is fine, with former football player Vinny Jones ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", "Snatch", "The Gentlemen") leading the ensemble. Jones is perfect at playing hardman characters, except here he's not really much of a hardman. He's essentially playing a toned down version of himself, but the role requires nuance that is far beyond his acting range. At least he's convincing enough in the football scenes. Another missed opportunity comes from Jason Statham, who on paper is a great choice as Monk, a psycho recruited to play alongside the convicts, but the character's gags mostly fall flat.

The film's central set piece, the highly anticipated football match between the prison guards and convicts, is fairly entertaining, but lacks the impact of the original concept. The main hook is that the two sides will engage in a lot of darkly comic violence on the field, but soccer just isn't as violent as American football, which takes away a lot of opportunities for bone-crunching revenge shenanigans. I will admit that the pair of convict commentators was actually quite funny.

As a comedy it's serviceable enough if you're not too demanding, or just enjoy movies with football in them. Otherwise it's a puzzling misfire considering all the talent inolved and its solid premise. It's poorly written and directed, and one could only wonder how the movie would have turned out with Guy Ritchie or Matthew Vaughn directing instead.

SCORE: 6/10