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Mean Machine (2001)
Director: Barry Skolnick
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This remake of the ballsy Robert Aldrich/Burt Reynolds prison drama The Longest Yard (released in Britain as The Mean Machine) substitutes soccer for American football, but otherwise retains the basic set-up: a disgraced sports star is incarcerated and compelled to lead his fellow inmates in a match against the warders for the entertainment of the governor. The Aldrich yarn was a hell of a movie: amid the crunching violence the director of The Dirty Dozen and Kiss Me Deadly mounted a characteristically no holds barred assault on authoritarianism and petty fascism. The remake is a joke. Fortunately director Skolnick has cottoned on that he was on a hiding to nothing, and after the dire first half hour, he essentially plays it for laughs. Vinnie Jones turns in a very decent performance (easily his most confident to date) as former England skipper Danny Meeham, a national villain after throwing a game. His rehabilitation comes reluctantly, finding some pride as he coaches a bunch of no-hopers for the game of their lives. The supporting cast give it a go too.Author: TCh
Cast & crew
Director: Barry Skolnick
Producer: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Vinnie Jones, David Kelly, David Hemmings, Ralph Brown, Vas Blackwood, Robbie Gee, Geoff Bell, John Forgeham, Sally Phillips, Jason Flemyng, Danny Dyer, Jason Statham, Jake Abraham, Omid Djalili full cast
Duration: 99 mins
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