Rebound

It's bad, but not as bad as it looks, or as it could've been. That's my take on Rebound, the latest from Martin Lawrence, a funny guy who's made some of the most horrible movies ever like Black Knight and National Security. He's got the sequel to Big Momma's House coming out later this year, but even though the original was funny (but forgettable) I don't have any hopes for it.

Lawrence plays Roy McCormick, a college hoops superstar coach that gets banned from the league after a series of violent and humiliating situations with the referees when his team loses game after game. And so he ends up coaching his former high school's junior team, who consists of 5 pathetic kids who have never won a game and haven't even scored once in their lives.
The kids, and they are the only good thing about the movie, are the classic ones, with the one kid who can play but has no confidence, the fat kid who eats all the time, the down syndrome kid, the kid that gets hit in the face by the ball all the time and the kid that thinks is good looking and only thinks about himself and his shoes. Then Coach Roy makes some additions like the tall geek kid and the fat tough girl. Yes, they're all cliches, but these kids are funny.

Of course, the story is all about Coach Roy wanting to win and don't get embarrassed and so he doesn't care for the kids, but then they teach him a lesson, he gets to like them, they start winning games, he gets involved the kid-who-can-play's mother, but then the league wants him back and he must choose between fame and money or the kids. And all this because like it always happens in this type of movies, the league executives make their decisions the same day the kids' team play their final game.
And by the way, Martin Lawrence 40 years old, but he looks like he's in his early 30s, so it didn't make sense that he was a basketball coach that's been winning championships for years. And there was no mention of him ever being a great basketball player or even a normal basketball player other than a picture of him when he was in High School.

Lawrence is ok but not great, specially compared with the similar character played in Kicking and Screaming by Will Ferrell (who really went crazy with it and it worked). And here, the adult supporting performances like Horatio Sanz, Patrick Warburton, and Megan Mullally (who's in the first half but then disappears) and then Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development's Maebe Funke!!!) are better than him.
Despite the good kid performances and those very good supporting players, compared to the many movies for kids out in theatres right now, Rebound isdefinitelyy not the one to see.