The Longest Yard

Peter Segal ("50 First Dates") successfully helms his third Adam Sandler project in this funny modernized retooling of Robert Aldrich’s 1974 original which starred Burt Reynolds. Sandler steps into Reynolds’ shoes as former pro football quarterback Paul Crewe, the latest addition to a prison community where he’s called on by Warden Hazen (James Cromwell) to lead a team of inmates to play a climacteric football game against the guards. The maturity that Sandler has recently acquired in his comic approach pays off as the story balances drama and comedy with hip touches of nuance and physical burlesque. Chris Rock and Burt Reynolds co-star.

Rated PG-13. 113 mins. (B) (Three Stars)