The Longshots (2008)

I saw The Longshots in the theater with a bookish yet active 11-year-old girl who liked the movie almost as much as I did. It's a can-do, feel-good movie that doesn't start out that way but gets there in leaps and bounds. Ice Cube is a down-on-his-luck former high-school football player who clings to bygone memories of his glory days and never goes anywhere without a football in his hand. (He'd probably have an emotional breakdown if he weren't so depressed and disspirited about his inability to find or hold a job.) Suddenly his mousy 11-year-old niece (Keke Palmer) needs a latchkey uncle, a part-time post he grudgingly accepts. At some point during his daily slumming and kvetching around the school's football field, Keke is asked to throw a football back -- and does so with a zing. The rest of the movie gives us the spiraling buildup of determination and exultation as the young girl discovers and exercises her amazing gift -- and teaches kids a lesson about trusting oneself and one's loved ones. The Longshots is an inspiring black-girl-plays-football story that has elements of Million Dollar Baby, Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights, and Akeela and the Bee. 4 stars.