The Underdoggs
You’d have to be high…
Snoop Dogg is the profane mesh holding this flimsy film together.
Jaycen “Two Js” Jennings (Snoop Dogg) is a legend in his own mind. Once the pride of his Long Beach football team, Two Js became an NFL star, but his attitude kept him from becoming truly great. He bounced from team to team, making a point to be rude to players and fans alike.
Now, he’s alone in a mansion waiting for a sports commentating job that clearly isn’t coming. When a bout of reckless driving gets him some viral clout and a community service sentence, Two Js decides to make a change. He volunteers to coach the local underfunded peewee football team. And while he starts the journey with nefarious motives to up his profile, he eventually comes to care for the children.
Basically, it’s The Mighty Ducks with weed and cursing.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The Underdoggs seems to know exactly what kind of movie it is (they reference The Mighty Ducks frequently). The problem is that beyond a writer scribbling “Sports Movie Snoop Dogg?” on a pad, no other story development seems to have been done. The film hits all the familiar sports movie beats, but it seems like it’s speed running through the plot points: There’s a bunch of kids who need a role model, and each one gets about two sentences worth of characterization before the film forgets about them. There’s a hot mom (Tika Sumpter) who exists solely to be a reward for Two Js when he decides to act like a decent person. There’s a comically evil rival team. There’s even a wise older figure to help Two Js remember the importance of a mentor and a goofy best friend.
That’s a lot to cram into a barely 96-minute movie. The Underdoggs recognizes this and it doesn’t really care. Director Charles Stone III seems to just shrug it off. There is no interesting style or fun characters, there barely seems to be a story at all. And that’s confounding since the info cards before the credits talk about Snoop Dogg’s football charity that has helped thousands of underserved communities enjoy the game. Why The Underdoggs couldn’t be a documentary on that good work and the kids Snoop Dogg helped is baffling.
Not all is lost for The Underdoggs, however. Snoop Dogg, though not a particularly versatile actor, is nonetheless an extremely fun screen presence. The writers make Two Js as close to actual Snoop Dogg as they could, and that greatly helps the movie. One can’t deny the natural charisma of Snoop Dogg, and the movie works best when it allows the rapper to do his own thing. Hearing him shout profanity at a group of kids is surprisingly hilarious.
And with apologies to those with sensitive ears, the profanity is also a saving grace of The Underdogs. Too often kids in these movies are sanitized for general audiences. If you’ve ever been on a youth sports team, or just hung out with a bunch of tweens, you know swearing is a part of the experience. So it’s fun to hear these kiddos snap back at the most famous gangster rapper alive with the same level of profanity.
If you’re bored on a Sunday and can’t find The Bad News Bears or The Mighty Ducks, The Underdoggs will work as decent background noise. If you’re looking for an enjoyable movie that will hold your interest — you’d better hope you live in a state with legalized herb.
Verdict: Ain’t nothing but a D+ thing, baby.
The Underdoggs is rated R and is available on Prime.
