Home Team Parent Guide

Suspended from the NFL in 20012 because of a scandal, Coach Sean Payton (Kevin James) is trying to figure out what to do with his life. With nothing else to do, he heads to Argyle, Texas, where his ex-wife and son live. While there, Sean becomes a coach for his son’s (Tait Blum) football team.

Have you ever seen a sports movie? It doesn’t even have to be a football movie, just any sport. If so, you’ve seen this one. This whole film is a cliché, from the characters to the story. You know exactly what’s going to happen, what the conflict is going to be, and what the ending is - all within the first five minutes. That said, Home Team is not poorly made. Yes, it’s a cliché, but it’s a cliché with some budget behind it. The acting is good, the production values are relatively high, and the story, though predictable, has some heart to it. One of the biggest disappointments, however, is a distinct lack of actual humor, though the writers do try to make up for that with its wide array of potty and vomit jokes. The boys are all around 11 years old, so I guess the writers wanted to try to appeal to that age demographic and their sense of humor.

Aside from Sean and his son, the characters are flat stereotypes. The kids all fit into distinct boxes: the fat one, the wimpy one, the unathletic one, and the star athlete. We’ve all seen Mighty Ducks, we’re familiar with the stock characters. Rob Schneider, true to form, plays a meditating hippy-type who makes his own soap and backpacked through Asia in college. Is Rob Schneider capable of playing anyone other than a stereotype? I don’t think he ever has. There’s not much overtly offensive that I can point to, but I get the sense that this movie won’t age well.

My main concern from a content standpoint is the swearing. At over a dozen curse words, there’s too much here for me to recommend this for family viewing. On top of that there’s a running joke about a man being an alcoholic, which is a bit concerning. If you really like sports films, especially football underdog stories, you might enjoy Home Team. But for everyone else, and especially young audiences, it’s a fumble.