Rebound

Enter the Smelters, a wise-cracking junior high squad that's never won a game. Reluctantly taking on the team of hapless hoopsters, Roy uses his coaching magic to teach the kids the importance of dedication and teamwork on the hilarious road to the championship. Roy finds new love along the way, and rediscovers his first true love?basketball!

Amazon.com
After accidentally killing a team mascot, the notoriously bad-tempered and egomaniacal Coach Roy (Martin Lawrence, Big Momma's House) is banned for life from coaching--unless he can get through a season without any bad marks on his record and if he can find a team who'll take him on. It just so happens that his former middle school has a rag-tag team in need of a good coach... and you can already see where this is going. Rebound is pure formula, the combination of kids and sports perfected in The Bad News Bears and then repeated ad nauseum in The Mighty Ducks and even worse fare. But what makes a formulaic movie watchable are its grace notes: The quirky scene, the surprising supporting performance, the unexpected smidgen of clever dialogue that didn't get squelched in committee. Rebound has a great supporting cast, including Megan Mullally (Will & Grace), Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld), and Breckin Meyer (Clueless). The running commentary of a pair of girl reporters (Alia Shawkat of Arrested Development and Amy Bruckner) is amusing, and the kids are an appealingly awkward bunch, rather than glossy adults passing as teens. Don't expect much from Rebound, but it's got its moments. --Bret Fetzer