The last time I saw a comedy that was so over the top vulgar was when I watched Good Boys back in 2019. Or maybe that was the impression I got because it is indeed shocking to see children at a young prepubescent age use profanity including F-bombs among other bad words. The Underdoggs is just perfect to be one of my all-time favorites for this list: “List of films that most frequently use the word fuck”. Someone has to get The Underdoggs on and have a counter at the ready because I have a hunch it would fall in the top 30 if not 20.
But in the end, that doesn’t really matter unless the film is comedic, and thank goodness, The Underdogs is not as bad as it sounds. Featuring America’s most beloved baked, the movie focuses on Snoop Dogg’s Jaycen “Two Js” Jennings who is an out-of-shape NFL wide receiver with a diva attitude that makes even Antonio Brown and Odell Beckham Jr appear to be Beethoven’s disciples. The player who was the first pick in the draft and went on to have one of the greatest career stretches of all time, Jaycen hits the kitchen floor after a viral video of a softer crash into two G-Class Benz exotics forcing him to do community service in the area of Long Beach California.
Together with his good-for-nothing buddy Kareem (Mike Epps), Jaycen creates a perfect plan to finish strengthening his image – Kareem will be the coach of a hopeless bunch of middle schooler football players. In the beginning Jaycen’s main focus is taking pictures of him and the kids in order to upload them to Twitter and grab some likes, as well as trying to woo Cherise (Tika Sumpter), the mother of one of the players. But when one of the unhappy complaints (a comedian, Andrew Schulz) appears to be a coach of their competitors, Jaycen has no options besides turning intense and dedicating time and resources to this type of project. He invests thousands into equipment and uniforms and registers the team as the “Underdoggs” for branding purposes.
Oh no, I really dreaded that I would be subjected to another unbearable watch such as Snoop Wiz Khalifa’s comedy Mac & Devin Go to High School. Thankfully the Underdoggs is more than just the gimmick of making constant marijuana jokes. Yup, It may be the last ghetto sports movie that you’ve seen and repeat the underdog(g) sports movie storyline but at least it is made at least somewhat enjoyable due barrage of level faces. Andrew Schulz, a vile comedian who gained a healthy following during the rise of TikTok culture, basically plays a role of a funny jock, and happens to also be a coach, trash-talking on his sports podcast during the day.
Jaycen is represented by Kal Penn, who does not have respect for his hack client but rather warms up to him when his image starts to grow. In the third act, Mike Epps gets one large chuckle pretending to be an acting interim coach and quite obnoxiously quotes scripture and George Lopez stars in the film as Jaycen’s high school coach. Then, you have a long list of cameos, some of them including Tony Gonzalez, Terry Bradshaw, and Michael Strahan – all of whom had something to say/do.
Stealing the spotlight while the Merced Grizzlies football team works as more of one cohesive unit than a group of separate bodies, Jonigan Booth as Tre gets the majority of the screentime. A short quarterback with a fresh albeit, raw dual-threat skill set like that of a young Lamar Jackson, Tre possesses the same level of self-importance that Jaycen did when he was of the same age. When Jaycen begins to accept and understand that how he needs to start leading people, he shares some mental advancement with the young boy who is starting to think that his friend and coach are complete mooks.
And this is not some high art, if you will. It is all very straightforward, and the project has that polished streaming look that most movies of this type have. What is surprising is the humor that, for the most part, is pretty spot-on, funny without fail that, although it has excessive swearing throughout, remains quite upbeat and rather sharp due to the entertainers. Snoop has all the swagger, but one can see that his rowdiest instincts turn Jaycen Jennings into a rather detestable, yet ikonic lothario. This is also the first Snoop project in quite some time that feels more like a Snoop project rather than a product made of marijuana. This time it was Charles Stone III in the director’s chair, who is good at anything, except writing a long screenplay about a movie (Uncle Drew) who would want to see that?
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