By: Andrew Wing
Home Team is a 2022 American sports comedy film directed by Charles and Daniel Kinnane, written by Chris Titone and Keith Blum, and starring Kevin James (Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Grown Ups), Taylor Lautner (The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, The Twilight Saga film series), Rob Schneider (The Animal, The Benchwarmers), Jackie Sandler (Adam Sandler’s wife who frequently stars in Happy Madison films), and Tait Blum.
The film, although a comedy, is inspired by actual events, the film tells the story of New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton who coached his 12-year-old son’s football team during his one-year suspension from the NFL due to his involvement in the Bountygate scandal.
Home Team was produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions and Kevin James’s Hey Eddie Productions and filmed in Edgard, Louisiana from May to June 2021. It was released on January 28, 2022, by Netflix.
THE GOOD
Where do I start? When I saw this trailer for the first time I was just left in disbelief. I love me some Kevin James, there is no debating that. He is a comedy legend having played Paul Blart, but he also showed with one of his more recent films, Becky, that he can also legitimately act as he plays a Neo-Nazi in that action thriller film. But despite my fandom, I would be lying if I said I was pumped to see him play longtime NFL head coach Sean Payton. Nevertheless, I put all those terrible reviews for this film I’ve been seeing on the back burner for an hour and a half and went ahead and pressed play, so now it’s time to see if this movie was really as bad as some are making it out to be, or if it’s actually worth the watch. Keep reading and find out!
We might as well start with the head of the snake here and address Kevin James’s performance here. Quick spoiler, but I will get to his actual portrayal of Payton in the bad section, but just to discuss James’s acting here, I don’t think it’s really that bad. I mean it’s Kevin James. The man is funny, and anybody who says he isn’t in this film is just lying to you. There were multiple times when he cracked me up with jokes and banter with all the 12-year-old kids on the football team he is coaching. Throughout the film, he also has these running gags with Rob Schneider’s character and also Adam Sandler’s nephew Jared, who plays this dumb clerk that works at the hotel where Payton is staying and those are pretty good. I don’t know if I’ll ever get tired of Kevin James and Rob Schneider going back and forth, it’s just a treat.
Now onto the other big name attached here, Taylor Lautner, who plays Troy Lambert, the head coach of the middle-school football team. Seeing Lautner in this trailer was easily the best part of it, at least for me. Being someone who grew up watching The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl literally every night before going to bed, I am just a fan of his. And I hate to admit, but I was also Team Jacob during the dark days of cinema with The Twilight Saga film series. Enough of that though, I honestly think this is the best performance of his career. Now his filmography isn’t very long and there isn’t a ton of competition when it comes to his past performances, but I was really impressed with what we got from him here. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s getting older and might only have a six-pack of abs rather than a shredded eight-pack, but it was nice to see his acting skills on display here and I hope we see more of him in the future!
Before getting to the bad, there are a couple of other things that I liked about the film worth mentioning. One, and their acting wasn’t particularly great, but I was overall pleased with the group of kids that play on the middle-school team here. They did a good job at highlighting a few of the kids and giving them backstories, and they certainly all have their own unique personalities. And second, it’s sort of becoming second nature when it comes to Sandler's Happy Madison films, but there are a couple of great cameos in Home Team that will surely put a smile on your face and give you a good laugh.
THE BAD
Alright, here we go. I think it is easy to tell if you just watch the trailer, but the biggest problem here is the fact that Kevin James doesn’t resemble Sean Payton in the slightest. Not only does James not look like Payton in the face, but the accent he tries here and the mannerisms he uses are just bad. But what is worse than all of that is the fact that those in charge of the film aren’t even trying to make it a bit, they are legitimately trying to have Kevin James portray Payton as much as possible and it just gets a big fat F from me. Now I still had a little fun with it and I laughed a decent amount, but whenever I remembered that what I was watching was based on a true story and that James was playing Payton, I just got more annoyed and it definitely took some points off.
Another thing that was frustrating here was just me trying to wrap my head around why this movie got made. Now don’t get me wrong, this is a really cool story about how Payton spent his time during his one-year suspension and I can see how it translates to the big screen, but why did it need to be a comedy? For example, I honestly think this story would’ve been better served if it took the American Underdog (see Ted’s full review here) route. Because in that, we see Kurt Warner’s amazing true story brought to life on the big screen, and I think it would’ve been cool to see how Payton spent his one-year suspension coaching a middle-school football team, but more importantly how he developed and strengthened his bond with his child during what was, I’m sure, a very stressful time in his life.
There were a couple of other things that were tough to ignore when it came to Home Team. The first is that I was not a fan of the performance we got from Tait Blum as Payton’s son, Connor. His character is given some of the more dramatic moments in the film as Connor and his father have a rocky relationship, but they just didn’t do it for me, and I was pretty disappointed in his performance. Second, and this is small, but why do Rob Schneider’s characters in films always have to be such oddballs who are incredibly weird? I am just curious. And last but most definitely least, the projectile vomiting scene in this that is shown in the trailer is just so stupid. Like that is so outdated and not funny, and I really am lost trying to find a reason why anyone involved in this thought that would be a good scene to include.
THE VERDICT
While it most definitely won’t be winning any prestigious awards, Home Team will be making some noise at the Golden Raspberry Awards, which if you are unaware, is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. There is just a lot wrong with this movie from Kevin James’s portrayal of Sean Payton, its mixed-messaging, to its god-awful projectile vomiting scene. Nevertheless, it’s still a comedy film featuring Kevin James if you are looking for a laugh, and it also features a surprisingly solid performance from Taylor Lautner in his return to film after taking a six-year hiatus.
TED TAKES RATING - 3/10
Home Team is now available to watch on Netflix. Check out the latest trailer below.