“Champions” Movie Review: The Easy Way

Champions is a comedy movie directed by Bobby Farrelly starring Woody Harrelson and Ernie Hudson.

Remake of the Spanish film Campeones. No one dared to trash the Spanish film, but this one has been given its due by specialized critics.

Sometimes you have to judge cinema as cinema, and sometimes even film critics get it right.

Sentimental and trite.

Movie Review

Is it better than the Spanish version? Of course, Hollywood exhibits all its industry muscle, and what was a European production in the Hispanic film – with its own merit but lacking on a production level, here the industry exhibits its potential and gives a quick polish to everything: the editing, the sound, and puts a star, Woody Harrelson, in the spotlight.

It takes everything from the Spanish film, except for the great campaign that was made to judge a film not by its cinematic content but by its more social side (which undoubtedly, will have its merit). It takes it all and makes it better, but that “better” would not have been enough to convince the (sincere and knowledgeable) critics in the United States, and no one will give this film an Oscar, which has all the sins of an industry potboiler – an inappropriate, easy to produce and equally easy to consume film that, no matter how well-intentioned it may be, that won’t save it from the bonfire heap.

A sports story like so many others, a totally predictable script that takes no risks, and a film in which, as usual, Woody Harrelson shines with a good performance that, on the other hand, won’t go down in history and in a film that won’t exactly go down in history either.

It’s not that we don’t support good causes – which they are – it’s just that when a good cause is done in such an easy, cheesy and prefabricated way… it just doesn’t work.

A good product? The same as so many others are.

We can neither praise it nor, of course, contradict the criticism with which, without its serving as a precedent, we fully agree.

The Star: Woody Harrelson

Woody Harrelson is an American actor, writer and producer known for his numerous roles in both comedic and dramatic films. He has been nominated for two Academy Awards as well as four Golden Globe Awards, and has won one Emmy Award. Woody got his start on the hit sitcom Cheers, where he played Woody Boyd from 1985-1993. Woody’s breakout role was in Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers in 1994, followed by the hit comedy film Kingpin in 1996.

He gained mainstream recognition with roles such as Mickey Knox in the dark crime satire Natural Born Killers (1994), Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), and Tallahassee in Zombieland (2009). Woody has also starred in several critically acclaimed dramas such as The Messenger (2009) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). His more recent works include Venom (2018), Coffee & Kareem (2020) and Zack Snyder’s Justice League 2021. Woody will star opposite of Jennifer Lawrence in the upcoming Netflix drama Don’t Look Up.

Release Date

March 10, 2023

Where to Watch Champions

In theaters

The Cast

Woody Harrelson / Marcus	Kaitlin Olson / Alex
Cheech Marin / Julio	Matt Cook / Sonny

Ernie Hudson / Coach Phil Peretti
Madison Tevlin / Cosentino