The Comebacks

There’s little doubt that The Comebacks has been infused with an increasingly desperate sensibility that’s reflected in the film’s almost total lack of genuine laughs, as screenwriters Ed Yeager and Joey Gutierrez consistently place the emphasis on obvious, eye-rollingly lame jokes and gags (eg a tough character collects My Little Pony toys and accessories). The storyline – which follows down-on-his-luck coach Lambeau Fields (David Koechner) as he attempts to whip a ragtag football team into shape – has clearly been patterned after a myriad of inspirational sports tales (eg Rudy, Remember the Titans, Invincible, etc ), as evidenced by the filmmakers’ penchant for artlessly integrating references to such efforts throughout the movie’s almost interminable running time. Yeager and Gutierrez’s assumption that merely including a nod to an previously-established character or situation will provoke gales of laughter among viewers secures The Comebacks‘ place as yet another incompetent contemporary spoof movie, although – admittedly – Koechner’s go-for-broke performance does sporadically elevate the proceedings to something that’s almost watchable (almost but not quite).

* out of ****