The 2024 sports comedy “The Underdoggs” starring Snoop Dogg begins with the following disclaimer –
“The following movie is R-rated for strong language that may not be suitable for children. But fuck that. You know as well as I do that the kids who aren’t supposed to be watching this shit curse more than the rest of us motherfuckers”
Directed by Charles Stone III, the film starts with a fun flashback sequence of protagonist Jaycen “Two Js” Jennings (Snopp Dogg) recalling his rise to fame as a football star. But now he is just a washed up ex-player whose agent won’t even return his calls. So when he is sentenced to community service for speeding, Jaycen sees his shot at redemption by coaching a bunch of poor kids in his childhood neighborhood.
“The Underdoggs” is very formulaic, and very similar to Kevin James’ “Home Team”, which came out two years before it and is about a professional football coach training his son’s 6th grade team after he is suspended for a year. However, while the kids stole Kevin James’ thunder in “Home Team” with their performances, “The Underdoggs” is a Snoop Dogg show all the way. Snoop Dogg looks like he had a lot of fun playing Jaycen in this film, smoothly portraying an arrogant ex-player who curses at everyone and is dismissive of the kids he’s supposed to coach, labeling them as losers. He consistently puts them down until he has a change of heart, genuinely committing to helping them become winners. Jaycen stands out throughout the runtime dues to his flashy clothes, gold colored flashy car, and of-course, his long dreadlocks. “He looks like Princess Leiah,” a character hilariously observes when Jaycen shows up with his hair tied up in buns. So while the movie does have a lot of funny moments, it also gets repetitive and boring eventually.
This is basically the kind of film you can casually watch while doing other things, it doesn’t need your entire attention, so after about thirty minutes into “The Underdoggs”, I started to pack my bags while watching it. It’s forgettable, but kind of entertaining for half its runtime.
Stream “The Underdoggs” on Prime Video.
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