Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
A stubborn and hotheaded minor league basketball coach is forced to train a Special Olympics team when he is sentenced to community service.
Champions is a competent but formulaic sports comedy that hits every expected beat: the reluctant coach, the misfit team, the gradual bonding, and the redemptive arc. The premise of coaching Special Olympics athletes offers some warmth and genuine heart, and the performances — particularly Woody Harrelson — elevate the material above its predictable structure. Visually it is serviceable but unremarkable, with nothing cinematically distinctive. The ending delivers the emotional payoff the genre demands without surprising anyone. Novelty suffers from the by-the-numbers execution of a well-worn sports underdog formula.