Necessary Roughness

There’s little doubt that Necessary Roughness ultimately fares a whole lot better than one might’ve initially anticipated, as the movie, which generally comes off as a fairly generic ragtag-sports-team-makes-good comedy, boasts a whole host of exceedingly affable performances that carry it through its sporadic lulls (of which there are more than a few, ultimately, stemming from a somewhat overlong running time). Filmmaker Stan Dragoti does an effective job of immediately luring the viewer into the deliberately-paced proceedings, as the director, working from Rick Natkin and David Fuller’s script, effectively establishes the narrative’s myriad of offbeat characters and their respective foibles – with the perpetually watchable atmosphere heightened by the efforts of an eclectic cast that includes Scott Bakula, Hector Elizondo, and Robert Loggia. It’s clear, too, that the football-specific elements within the proceedings generally fare better than expected, which ensures that the climactic big game manages to pack an exciting punch even among viewers with little or no interest in the sport. The end result is a perfectly watchable little endeavor that’s perhaps not quite as laugh-out-loud funny as one might’ve preferred, and yet that’s a deficiency that’s relatively easy to overlook thanks to the pervasively agreeable vibe.

*** out of ****