Comic Lawrence on the Rebound with Family Friendly Flick

Let’s be honest – Marti Lawrence doesn’t make very good movies. Aside from the initial “Bad Boys” and a key supporting role in Eddie Murphy’s underrated “Boomerang,” there isn’t too much in the way of quality where it comes to the actor’s body of work. (If not for the fact it falls apart with such a thunderous clank you could probably add Ted Demme’s “Life’ to the list. Even then, for all its faults it does contain Lawrence’s richest performance, so maybe that alone makes it worthy of consideration.)

The rest is a like a who’s-who hall of fame of remarkably terrible entertainment ranging from the toxic (“Black Knight,” “What’s the Worst that Could Happen?”), to the insipid (“Big Momma’s House”), to the disappointing (“Bad Boys 2,” “Nothing to Lose”), to the bland (“Blue Streak”). Somehow some of these still managed to become hits, the rest made about as big a dent at the box office as a nerf ball slamming into a fire truck. Either way, each has proven one thing implicitly: Martin Lawrence can be a strong actor and an exceedingly funny comedian but he sure as heck can’t pick scripts for s**t.

Knowing all of this upfront it is with great fear the average moviegoer probably walks into the comic’s latest, a family-friendly basketball comedy from the director of the horrendous “Daddy Daycare” entitled “Rebound.” Personally, I don’t blame them. That noxious piece of trash by filmmaker Steve Carr (“Dr. Doolittle 2”) with Eddie Murphy is enough to make anyone stay away from Cineplex for the next twenty years. Add Lawrence to the mix, and you’ve got the recipe for unholy disaster. But Carr and his star manage something unthinkable, somehow managing to make the sometimes pleasant and entirely kid-friendly “Rebound” a modest mid-summer surprise.

Don’t misunderstand me. This isn’t a very good picture by any stretch of the imagination. All I’m saying is that it isn’t a bad one, Carr and Lawrence keeping things relatively bouncy and benignly innocuous as they make their way to their half-baked heartwarming conclusion. Lawrence stars as Coach Roy, a big-time, big-money college coach forced to run a team of misfits at his former middle school after a Bobby Knight-style meltdown results in his expulsion from the collegiate game. The team is a mess, losing their first game with Roy 108-0, and if the former backcourt genius is ever going to regain his credentials he’s going to have to drop his ego and help these kids turn their games around.

The script, apparently written by committee, doesn’t know a cliché it doesn’t like, while Carr doesn’t so much direct just makes sure things run along fairly smoothly and without incident. In fact, if there has been a more sitcom-like comedy made this year I haven’t come across it. Nothing here is original, not one gosh darn thing, and anyone that doesn’t know exactly what is going to take place from beginning to end doesn’t get out of the house very often.

The thing is, none of that really ends up mattering too much. I’m not saying “Rebound” is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but as far as cute little PG-rated sports comedies go this one isn’t all that hard to watch. Lawrence is fun as the boisterous Roy, his performance shading from obnoxious to exhilarating as the team’s charms work their magic upon him. As for the kids playing the Mount Vernon Junior High School Smelters, they’re a collective hoot, each fitting their own stereotypical filmic niche with surprising ease. Best of all, Steven Christopher Parker as the awkward gentle giant Wes, a six-foot shy-guy who’s whole outlook on adolescence and growing up changes the more Coach Roy and his teammates embrace him as one of their own.

Now I realize what you’re all thinking. You’ll say I’m growing soft or that I’ve been bludgeoned into submission thanks to all the cinematic dreck I’d had to sit through this year. Not true, for it isn’t like I’m trying to say “Rebound” is a masterpiece or going to win any year-end awards. The script really is terrible, and watching Carr waste fine comedic talents like Megan Mullally (“Will & Grace”), Breckin Meyer (“Herbie: Fully Loaded”) and Horatio Sanz (“Saturday Night Live”) is downright disgusting. But, overall the film wisely avoids (save for a vomit-happy youngster) reveling in the nauseating bathroom humor permeating most family features, and the moral message is sweetly sincere, driven home with subtle class and not the usually exasperating sledgehammer.

I know this isn’t exactly a recommendation, but considering what I usually say when it comes to a picture headlining Martin Lawrence I’m sure the comic or his representatives aren’t going to complain.

Film Rating: êê1/2  (out of 4)