At least once a year, you’re bound to find one Adam Sandler made movie on Netflix or at least a movie made by his production company. So, for 2022 we start out with the Adam Sandler produced film, Home Team starring Kevin James. It’s the story about New Orleans Saints football coach Sean Payton and the year he coached is 12-year- old son’s football team because he was suspended from coaching in the NFL. Not having a strong relationship with his son who lived in Texas at the time, Sean Payton shows up one day and by accident becomes an assistant football coach for his son’s Peewee football team that his son played on. They’re not very good and Sean Payton helps make them a contender, that’s the basic story. You can look at it as a form of The Sandlot and the Bad News Bears, but for football. It’s your typical feel- good football movie where kids are supposed to learn important life lessons. Yes, it’s kind of predictable, but does that mean it’s not worth watching on Netflix?
The answer to that question is yes! It’s a good movie for Netflix, it’s not a movie you would necessarily pay full price movie tickets to go see in the theater, maybe you would pay to see a matinee, but this film is entertaining and if you like the typical Adam Sandler crowd of actors from Kevin James to Rob Schneider and you’ll enjoy this film for what it is. I’m not going to tell you that it’s the greatest sports movie in the world. It certainly isn’t Hoosiers or Rudy. There have definitely been better football movies, and yes, there’s a certain level of predictability with this film that you pretty much know how it’s going to end, even if you don’t know the story of how Sean Payton coached his son’s football team. But it’s definitely a cute film to watch and Kevin James does a really great job as Sean Payton even if it’s not the typical comedic world that you would normally see Kevin James in. I think I enjoyed Rob Schneider a lot more as the vegan/ hippie stepdad! But Taylor Lautner also shines as the head football coach. I enjoyed this film. I almost felt like I was watching The Mighty Ducks, but for football. And what it mostly has going for it is a great football story made into a family-friendly movie. The kids were good in the film too.
However, it’s not perfect. You know what’s going to happen. This film has all the same tropes that you find in any sports film dealing with underdogs especially if they’re kids. Predictability can be the death of any film and I think it makes it even worse for sports movies. We watch sports movies because we want to be inspired. We know what’s going to happen in Rudy, we watch it anyway because we always root for the underdog. But in a lot of ways, you may feel that you’ve already seen this kind of movie before. The other thing that I have to criticize is as much as I like Kevin James in this movie and I know he’s basically playing the stoic Sean Payton, what makes him funny wasn’t always there in the film and like any great comedian, we expect certain things from them in a movie. It just wasn’t always there. The movie also felt a little too short like we really didn’t get to see that much of the season, just highlights and you almost need a Friday Nights TV feel to it where you really get to explore a season with a team. Yes, it’s hard to do that when you’re making a movie, but they could have also spent an extra 15 to 20 minutes showing some of the various games. I know the championship game at the end of the movie is the most important one for the team, but the best part of the story is how they got there. This movie could have benefited from an extra 15 to 20 minutes.
Overall, it’s a cute movie for Netflix, but you’ll be glad you didn’t pay money to see it in the theaters. It’s certainly a good one to watch with the whole family, especially if you love football and the kids in the film really do shine. Also, the cameos by other NFL coaches add something extra to this film even if they’re not great actors. It may not be the best sports film you’ve ever seen and it doesn’t have to be, but it’s a good one for the streaming service and it’s a really fun film in the Adam Sandler catalog of films on Netflix. If you’re looking for something to watch on Netflix with the family one afternoon or when football season is finally done, Home Team is a good choice. There’s a lot to like about this film even if you feel like you’ve seen the story before.
