'Rebound' trots out formula

By Nancy Churnin
The Dallas Morning News

REBOUND Grade: C-plus Starring Martin Lawrence, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Breckin Meyer, Patrick Warburton and Megan Mullally. Directed by Steve Carr. Rated PG (mild language and thematic elements). In wide release. 86 min.

Russell Crowe, are you listening?

Probably not, but former "Bad Boys" star Martin Lawrence sure is in "Rebound." And speaking for those of us who review family movies: Martin, welcome to our world.

That said, "Rebound" doesn't break new ground in the kids-reform-the-big-bad-guy formula. But it does offer a fun if familiar ride, thanks to Lawrence's deadpan comedic talents and some cute misfit kids.

"Rebound" rides the "Hoosiers" trajectory: a disgraced college coach tries to rebuild his life by guiding a younger kids' basketball team (high school for "Hoosiers," middle school for "Rebound"). The team is "Bad News Bears" terrible. But gradually, with the kids learning from the coach and the coach learning from them, they grow from the worst team in the league, bonding in spirit as well as skills.

Where "Hoosiers" benefited from complex performances and a sensitive script based on a true story, "Rebound" is out for over the top fun that gets less believable as the story progresses. Lawrence's Coach Roy is so big that he gets more coverage than Paris Hilton. The kids are so bad that they lose in the triple digits to zero. And one of the boys has a single mom so fetching (Wendy Raquel Robinson) that Coach Roy is inspired to do the right thing just to wangle a date with her.

Kids should warm to Steven Christopher Parker as a hapless, uncoordinated kid the coach recruits for his height; Steven Anthony Lawrence as a boy who barfs before games; and Tara Correa as a girl who scares the boys with her fist-wielding ways. Megan Mullally offers up some nice bits as the overburdened principal, and Horatio Sanz's assistant coach offers a solid comic foil for Lawrence.

Lawrence's extra turn as Preacher Don, who pumps the kids up before a game, is funny but gratuitous. His best comedic moments are as the coach when the kids get the best of him. The script's reality crumbles as the kids become stars, but Lawrence succeeds in transforming himself into an endearing kids' advocate. Is that as much wish-fulfillment fantasy as the rest of the story? Perhaps. But it makes the ride worthwhile.