The Comebacks
The Comebacks is a 2007 American magical realism satirical comedy film directed by Tom Brady and story by Andrew Jacobson. This film is a parody of the clichés and plots of the sports film genre. It parodies 21 popular sports films along with historical real world sports events, credible live football action and excerpts from The Onion Movie inserted throughout the film. In the UK, Greece, Finland, Australia and New Zealand this film is called Sports Movie. The movie was released to theaters on October 19, 2007. It was partially filmed at the Cal State Fullerton Titan Stadium in Fullerton, California and Shepherd Stadium at Pierce College in Los Angeles, California.

Plot

Coach Lambeau Fields (David Koechner) is pathetic. He has the distinction of being the worst coach in the history of sports anyone can recall. A loser of enormous proportions, the incompetent and seemingly hopeless coach has a job he is finally proud of producing the DNA building blocks of the noble Sea Biscuit lineage, when he is convinced by fellow coach Freddie Wiseman (Carl Weathers) to return to the field for one last shot. Assuring his long suffering wife, Barb (Melora Hardin), that he will not ignore his family again, Coach moves them (after they run and catch up to the leaving Coach in the family's station wagon) to Plainfolk, Texas where he hopes to redeem himself and his reputation. Here he begins yet another attempt to improve his abysmal record – this time as the coach of the football team at Heartland State University], where he is saddled with a team of leg assaulting misfits – most of whom don't know the difference between a noseguard and an athletic cup or a line of scrimmage and a line at the cafeteria.

The first game of the season for the Comebacks is a home game but all of the townsfolk are two towns over rooting for another team while the Comebacks are pummelled 83 to 0 by a team with a stiff defense and rock hard offense. Coach warned his team that they couldn't lay down or the Boner State Trojans would really pound them, and they did.

Although the team and finger wagging townsfolk are leery of the newcomer's approach, the Coach uses his unorthodox methods and game films to whip this group of rag-tags into shape – both on and off the field. While the audience follows their winding road to the playoffs, the film pokes fun at the clichés and conventions of other sports flicks. The Coach begins ignoring his wife again due to the demands of his work watching pornographic films to prepare his team. A love triangle ensues between Coach's Olympic gymnist daughter, the team's quarterback and the Comebacks' star running back. This causes a team wide locker room brawl, exposing the conflicts inherent in the diverse group of players. Coach Fields locks them in the locker room until they sort out their differences, and after bonding over a PA system Journey song complete with a laser light show donated by the booster club, the team does make progress. So much so that they actually make it to the South-Southwest Conference Championship at the 2nd Annual Toilet Bowl, where "...the excitement is so thick in this stadium you can cut it with a knife." However, the winning season comes at the expense of Lambeau Field's marriage as Coach's Wife leaves him for an exchange student from an obscure nation].

Facing their fiercest opponents yet and yearning to win the big game, The Comebacks face off with the heavily armed Lone Star State Penitentiary Unbeatables, coached by Lambeau Fields' former best friend Freddy Wiseman. Freddy had betrayed Coach, after Coach Fields was imprisoned from attempting to teach his honor society team how football players are supposed to behave. Escaping prison during a one on one basketball game against the warden (portrayed by Dennis Rodman) Coach Fields had returned to the college to lead the team to this championship game. The Unbeatables take a large lead using illegal tactics overlooked by the bribed officials. The Comebacks struggle forward gamely against the team of criminals and unfair officiating. And as every great sports team has always done, The Comebacks use ingenuity, unorthodox measures and dance moves in the final showdown where the best team wins. Coach realizes 'It's not all about winning' and sends a message via the TV camera to Barb. The Comebacks comeback against the heavily favored Unbeatables, as they find new strength and courage from the emotional moment. A special play is called from an unlikely source as Coach realizes that Freddy knows where Coach is getting his plays. A dramatic and climatic 2 point conversion attempt to determine the winner is tried. Every breath hangs in the balance, until... The Comebacks are victorious, while Barb has made her way to the stadium and runs to embrace the finally victorious Coach, but Lambeau is subsequently knocked down in a surprise attack by a bus with Freddie driving it, presumably on his way to a polygamous relationship in Mexico, laughing manically as Lambeau is in pain. Lambeau groans in agony after being asked by a TV reporter how it feels to finally be a winner.

Cast
 David Koechner as Coach Lambeau Fields, the coach of the Heartland Comebacks
 Carl Weathers as Freddie Wiseman, the coach of the Lone Star State Unbeatables
 Melora Hardin as Barb Fields, the wife of Lambeau Fields
 Matthew Lawrence as Lance Truman, quarterback
 Brooke Nevin as Michelle Fields, the daughter of Lambeau Fields
 Robert Ri'chard as Aseel Tare ("uh-seel tah-ree", mispronounced by Coach Fields as "ACL tear"), running back 
 Noureen DeWulf as Jizminder Featherfoot, kicker
 Nick Searcy as Mr. Truman, Lance's father
 Jackie Long as Trotter, wide receiver
 Jesse Garcia as Jorge Juanson, receiver
 George Back as Buddy Boy, lineman
 Martin Spanjers as Randy Randinger, towel boy
 Jermaine Williams as iPod
 Jillian Grace as Maria Sharapova
 Chauntal Lewis as Freddy's Girl
Cameos
 Eric Christian Olsen as Foreign Exchange Student
 Andy Dick as Toilet Bowl Referee
 Dennis Rodman as Warden
 Bradley Cooper as Cowboy
 Dax Shepard as Sheriff
 Jon Gries as Barber
 Will Arnett as Mailman
 Kerri Kenney as Sports Judge
 Lawrence Taylor as himself
 Michael Irvin as himself
 Eric Dickerson as himself
 Stacy Keibler as All-American Mom, a character in the toilet bowl halftime show.
 Drew Lachey as All-American Dad, a character in the toilet bowl halftime show.
 Jason Sklar and Randy Sklar as Superfans
 Frank Caliendo as Chip Imitation

Reaction
On Metacritic, the film received a 25 out of 100 rating from 13 reviews, meaning "generally unfavorable reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 9% and an average rating of 2.7/10 from 33 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Full of groin-centric humor and tired sports clichés ('Dad, there used to be a big...big man inside of you.' 'There was a reason for that...I was in prison...'), The Comebacks is poor even by parody movie standards."

Blake French of filmcritic.com gave it a 4 out of 5 saying: "for those who would rather step on a tack than sit through another Miracle, this film is a long overdue revival to the spoof genre."

Comebacks stunt actor Mark Chadwick was nominated for the best fire stunt scene by the World Stunt Awards for 2008.

Box office
The Comebacks had an opening weekend of $5.6 million at #5. At the end of its box office run, it grossed $13.3 million in the US and $139,173 in foreign countries. The movie had a budget of $20 million, saw an international box office of $13.5 million< with DVD sales of $9.5 million. Streaming sales are still to be determined.

Soundtrack 
The Comebacks soundtrack features the original song "T&A" performed by White Beaver and written by Christopher Lennertz.

See also
 List of American football films

References

External links
 
 

2007 films
Films directed by Tom Brady
20th Century Fox films
2000s sports comedy films
American football films
American parody films
American sports comedy films
Films scored by Christopher Lennertz
2007 comedy films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films
College football in fiction