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'The Longest Yard': Not the longest movie

What in the world is Adam Sandler doing starring in a remake of 1974's The Longest Yard, the bone-crunching guards-versus-inmates football grudge match? Not much, chiefly because director Peter Segal (Sandler's collaborator on Anger Management and 50 First Dates) never decides whether he wants to kid the original movie or take it seriously.

Paramount Pictures 'The Longest Yard' C The verdict: A fairly faithful remake of a prison football flick that never decides how seriously it wants to be taken. Director: Peter Segal Starring: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Burt Reynolds, William Fichtner, James Cromwell Run time: 109 minutes Release date: May 27, 2005 Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, violence, language and drug references. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate "The Longest Yard"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

The new picture does have more laughs, thanks to a quipping Chris Rock as Sandler's sidekick Caretaker, skilled at procuring anything inside Allenville Penitentiary, for a price. But as Paul Crewe, the ex-football player indicted for shaving points in a big game years earlier, Sandler plays things relatively straight, willing us to care about the cliche-riddled gridiron showdown.

You have to admire Sandler's recent efforts to stretch, including such miscalculations as Punch Drunk Love and Spanglish, but The Longest Yard is hardly playing to his performance strengths.

A grizzled, gray-topped Burt Reynolds, who starred as Crewe in the original movie, shows up as longtime felon and former Heisman Trophy winner Nate Scarborough. He assists with coaching the convicts and eventually gets in the game — a nice, if improbable, touch.

The ragtag team's practice sessions and the game itself are full of socially acceptable violence, judged tame enough to earn a PG-13 rating, where the earlier film's similar scrimmages got it the penalty flag of an R.