Movie review: 'Comebacks' is one long fumble

Scattershot movie satire isn't a particularly challenging game to play, but "The Comebacks" fumbles the ball like a cross-eyed quarterback. Riffing at random on every sports movie released in the past decade, it never approaches the smart idiocy of "Dodgeball" or even the chuckleheaded verve of "Balls of Fury." It's a spoof that goes "poof."

David Koechner plays coach Lambeau Fields, an underdog both on the gridiron and in his family life, who signs on with the losingest team in the history of college football. (No, it's not the Macalester College squad; this is a lampoon, not a documentary.) The misfits of Heartland State University muddle their way through to a climactic confrontation with the Lone Star State Unbeatables for the conference championship at the 2nd Annual Toilet Bowl.

If that bends you double in mirth, you might enjoy seeing a cheerleader crashlanding after being thrown too high -- a gag so superfantastic they repeat it -- or the cutaway to a player literally engulfed in flames when a game announcer yells, "He's on fire!"

While the film is overstuffed with gags, the laughs don't develop much momentum. Each scene exists solely to check a sports-movie cliché off the list; nothing builds. The script even parodies earlier parodies, pulling in references to "Dodgeball" and "Talladega Nights."

Koechner is the film's best asset. A longtime bit player, he shines as the addlebrained coach, playing the most absurd situations with a poker face. Every character in "The Comebacks" is unbelievably dense, but Koechner makes you believe that he played one too many scrimmages without a helmet.

Colin Covert • 612-673-7186

Colin Covertrating: Pg-13 For Crude and Sexual Content Throughout and Some Drug material. • ccovert@startribune.com