Rating: 
Summary: MIGHTY DUCKS FOOTBALL STYLE
Review: Necessary Roughness came on the heels of the baseball film "Major League" and follows the same script formula of a group of misfits overcoming all odds and winning the big game. Due to NCAA sanctions, the Texas State University Fightin' Armadillos must form a football team from their actual student body, with no scholarships to help, to play their football schedule. With fewer players than most teams, the makeshift team must overcome obstacles that the best teams in the country couldn't deal with. Using a 34 year old quarterback, a female placekicker and a gang of misfits, Ed "Straight Arrow" Genero (Hector Elizondo) must take his team to play the number one Texas Colts.
Scott Bakula plays Paul Blake...once a top recruited high school QB who never played college football is brought into lead the team who must play both offense and defense because they don't have enough players. Sinbad plays Andre, a teacher at the college who also joins the team along with Jarvis (Jason Bateman) and a female kicker named Lucy (Kathy Ireland).
The Armadillos go out and get massacred in every game they play, much to the delight of the Dean (Larry Miller) who is no fan of athletics and wants to see the team fail. At the end of the year they find themsevles having to face their state rivals and #1 ranked Texas Colts...the stereotypical team of bad guys you always find in movies like this. Well you can probably guess who wins the game in the end.
Movies like this never come as a surprise. You always know what's going to happen in the end and the joy is the ride getting there. The team is suitably horrible with wide receivers who can't catch, and lineman who can't block and a coach who grows more frustrated with each practice.
Sinbad is always fun to see and brings his usual charm and infectious smile to his role and Bakula does a fine job as the team's "old man" QB leading a team of mostly young kids. There's a pretty funny sequence where the coach brings in a group of convicts to scrimmage his team. The Convicts are made up of former NFL greats Dick Butkus, Ben Davidson, Tony Dorsett, Jim Kelly, Randy White, and Herschel Walker.
Rob Schneider has a bit part as the Amadillos radio and PA announcer and ESPN's Chris Berman has a cameo. This is actually one of the better movies of its type and a good diversion for a few laughs.
Rating: 
Summary: Rough and unnecessary
Review: Necessary Roughness is a humorous film that's supposed to make us laugh and cheer for the underdog. It has its parts, I admit, where it is good fun and it is enjoyable, but then it has its stupid, cliched parts that kinda ticks me off as a student of football.Good points:
1) I think there's a good range of characters, each one has a different persona, thankfully. Some of them are pretty enjoyable and even at times believable. Especially the QB, an older guy going back to college to guide a losing team to a better record. It's a storyline we can follow and his character is pretty fun to follow.
2) I like how this was about a losing team, a nobody school, that is trying to get a couple wins, not a championship under their belt. If this had been a film about a nothing school going all the way, I would've given it one star.
3) This film has a solid plot, for a football film. It has easy characters to follow and the objective of the film is clear. Meaning, you know what it's about and it answers most the questions that might be raised during the film. All right the bad things:
1) The dialogue of this film is so full of cliches and you can almost expect what each character is going to say because it is so scripted. This really hurt the originality of this film, the complete originality of this film.
2) The romance is unnecessary and dumb. It has nothing to do with the plot, it's just a side note that the QB is making out with his English prof. I mean, who cares? It's not as if she plays an important role and it isn't as if the romance is crucial to the development of characters.
3) The bar fight. How predictable and stupid. And naturally the team they fight over in the bar is the very same team they meet in the final game. How cliche.
4) What I wanted to see was this aging QB to have to prove himself all over again, kind of work his way up and earn the confidence of his team members. That would've added the element of emotion in this film, which lacks because you don't really care a whole bunch about any of the characters, they are just entertaining jocks. Instead, he's accepted almost instantly and doesn't have to earn his starting job, it's granted to him. Because everything is practically handed to him, all the oppertunities that is, how in the world can we possibly sympathize with his character?
5) A football film without emotion is a pretty boring film, if at best, a one time wonder and then it's dull. Which is the problem with this film. It's fun to watch the first time around, but after that, it's like who cares? This film taught me nothing because I was never involved with the plot or any of the characters emotionally. Again, it had good characters, but they weren't good enough to make this film better because they were all distant jocks. If you are looking for a football film that's fun to watch one time, then watch this film. But don't even think for a second you'll want to buy this film to watch again and again. It's just not worth it. It's an average sports film, with poor dialogue, and lack of creativity in development of characters. Grade: C
Rating:
Summary: Rough and unnecessary
Review: Necessary Roughness is a humorous film that's supposed to make us laugh and cheer for the underdog. It has its parts, I admit, where it is good fun and it is enjoyable, but then it has its stupid, cliched parts that kinda ticks me off as a student of football. Good points:
1) I think there's a good range of characters, each one has a different persona, thankfully. Some of them are pretty enjoyable and even at times believable. Especially the QB, an older guy going back to college to guide a losing team to a better record. It's a storyline we can follow and his character is pretty fun to follow.
2) I like how this was about a losing team, a nobody school, that is trying to get a couple wins, not a championship under their belt. If this had been a film about a nothing school going all the way, I would've given it one star.
3) This film has a solid plot, for a football film. It has easy characters to follow and the objective of the film is clear. Meaning, you know what it's about and it answers most the questions that might be raised during the film. All right the bad things:
1) The dialogue of this film is so full of cliches and you can almost expect what each character is going to say because it is so scripted. This really hurt the originality of this film, the complete originality of this film.
2) The romance is unnecessary and dumb. It has nothing to do with the plot, it's just a side note that the QB is making out with his English prof. I mean, who cares? It's not as if she plays an important role and it isn't as if the romance is crucial to the development of characters.
3) The bar fight. How predictable and stupid. And naturally the team they fight over in the bar is the very same team they meet in the final game. How cliche.
4) What I wanted to see was this aging QB to have to prove himself all over again, kind of work his way up and earn the confidence of his team members. That would've added the element of emotion in this film, which lacks because you don't really care a whole bunch about any of the characters, they are just entertaining jocks. Instead, he's accepted almost instantly and doesn't have to earn his starting job, it's granted to him. Because everything is practically handed to him, all the oppertunities that is, how in the world can we possibly sympathize with his character?
5) A football film without emotion is a pretty boring film, if at best, a one time wonder and then it's dull. Which is the problem with this film. It's fun to watch the first time around, but after that, it's like who cares? This film taught me nothing because I was never involved with the plot or any of the characters emotionally. Again, it had good characters, but they weren't good enough to make this film better because they were all distant jocks. If you are looking for a football film that's fun to watch one time, then watch this film. But don't even think for a second you'll want to buy this film to watch again and again. It's just not worth it. It's an average sports film, with poor dialogue, and lack of creativity in development of characters. Grade: C
Rating: 
Summary: Take a "pass" on this one.
Review: OK, I admit it. I know nothing about football. I watched this movie solely to see Scott Bakula. It's a shame to see such a talented bunch of actors (Bakula, Kozak, Elizondo, Loggia) in this contrived mess. The college is in Texas, yet NO ONE has a Texas accent. Jason Bateman's character exists only to make a pertinent comment at the right moment to make Bakula's character turn the Jeep around and head back to college to pull off his one last triumph for the team and get the girl. And don't get me started on the transparent manipulation of putting Kathy Ireland in football pants to kick a field goal. Speaking of transparent manipulation, Bakula looks pretty good in the football pants too. Watch this movie only if you adore football and can ignore the other stpuid plot points.
Rating:
Summary: Let The Games Begin!
Review: There are a number of films about the underdogs of the world. Most of them are comedies. Necessary Roughness is one of them. It's about how Texas State University lost its championship status due to cheating, steroids, pay-offs, etc. Therefore, the entire team was expelled from TSU. The new recruits had to be from the actual student-body. As coach Riggendorf (Robert Loggia) said, "Mass suicide!" The team is made up of a bunch of misfits and way-out individual characters. The president of TSU (Fred Dalton Thomson) wanted Ed "Straight-Arrow" Gennero (Hector Elindonzo) to lead the new team. But there's a catch. The dean (Larry Miller) will insist on applying strict rules; ie: "No pass, no play." (Referring to their grade-point-average) So a number of students try out for the team. A fair batch made it too. But since most of the players didn't make the grade, they were kicked of the team by the dean. That forced them to play what is called "ironman football"; where the team plays both offensive and defensive. Not an easy feat.
Also, they needed a really good quarterback. So Coach Rigg enlisted Paul Blake (Scott Bakula), who was the best in high-school. Sadly, he had to give it up when his father passed away, to take over the family farm.
The TSU Armadillos begin some serious football playing against the other universities/colleges of their area. But with some hilarious commentary from Chuck Niederman (Rob Schneider) in the pressbooth.
They even manage to get a football player/science professor to join (Sinbad); as well as Lucy to be the place-kicker (Kathy Ireland).
All they want to achieve in football life is to win at least one game. Blake wants his fellow teammates to feel what he did in high school - just even that once.
I find the movie amusing and even downright funny. The cast of characters are a hoot.
Rating: 
Summary: Necessary Roughness - definitely
Review: This is one film that I could watch repeatedly. It was an entertaining story starring the talented actor, Scott Bakula, as the aging QB. It is funny, great cast-interaction, exciting game action and characters you can't help but really root for .....
Rating:
Summary: Necessary Roughness - definitely
Review: This is one film that I could watch repeatedly. It was an entertaining story starring the talented actor, Scott Bakula, as the aging QB. It is funny, great cast-interaction, exciting game action and characters you can't help but really root for .....
Rating:
Summary: Cracks Me Up!
Review: This movie is awesome!! I never get sick of it. If you've ever played sports or been on sports teams before, you'll really appreciate the humor in this movie.
Coach Riggendorf is hilarious! (especially his halftime speech). The interactions between Coach Riggendorf and Coach Geniero crack me up. They have the funniest bunch of characters on their team (the fictitious Texas State Armadillos) including Andre Krimm (Sinbad), Manu-Manu the Slender, Samurai, Sgt. Wilkerson, McKenzie, the Twins, Paul Blake, Jason Bateman, Featherstone (a.k.a. Stonehands), Popkey, Charlie Banks, Lucy (Kathy Ireland), etc. Rob Schneider is the announcer for the football games in this movie and he is hilarious!! Some of his lines are classic!
Paul Blake (Scott Bakula) plays a former high school football star quarterback who never got the chance to play college football because he had to run the family farm. Coach Riggendorf goes out and recruits Blake to come back from "retirement" and join the team. After some convincing, Blake decides to come back and play quarterback for the Armadillos. They end up having a rough season and lose pretty much every game. The final game of the season arrives and they have to take on the #1 team in the state of Texas. No one expects them to win, but they pull out the improbable victory at the end of the game. This is a hilarious movie that will keep you in stiches throughout!
Rating:
Summary: A little unrealistic
Review: This movie was funny and I enjoyed the performance of Scott Bakula as the real old quaterback but no team can play both offense and defense (a few players maybe but not the entire team!). And a female playing college footbal. I have nothing against it personally but there is a certian way to kick field goals (I know someone in the NFL who knew a kicker hel told me that's impossible). The whole movie wasn't bad, but it was a little unrealistic, but it's comedy so that's why we dismiss reality. It's funny and that's the good thing about this movie.
Rating:
Summary: A fun movie.
Review: Well here's a movie that had SO much potential but somehow just didn't quite make it. Don't get me wrong, it's a decent movie and I smiled thoughout most of it, but alas I never really laughed out loud (not good for a movie billed as a comedy and had so many comedic actors involved...i.e. Sinbad, Rob Schneider, Larry Miller, et al! As I sit here and think, the only true time I really laughed out loud was at the end as the referee recounted Eric the Samuri's blatant fouls after he karate-chopped through the defense...now that was inspired!). The other actors give it their all, and some of the characterizations are quite endearing, but the by-the-numbers script (i.e. ubiquitous bar-room fight, loser team wins the big game, etc) really lets them down. For instance, the scrimmage game between the team and the convicts is an opportunity for real laughs that's just wasted! And the ultra-priggish Dean is a tad TOO priggish...to the point of sqeaking when he walks...sheesh. But as the other reviewers mention, the films saving grace is Bill Conti's score...it's wonderful...it, more than anything, got me going...there were certain montage and musical sequences that were great, like the teams first few defeats, and the introduction of Lucy's kicking prowess. Overall, "Necessary Roughness" is a good movie that could have been great. But not to knock it too hard, I have to say that when Roger Ebert reviewed it, he hit the nail on the head when he said that this film had "charm"...well he was exactly right...there's a lot of chemistry and fun in this movie, and it's suitable for all ages which is nice (and rare!), but after it's over you too will realize that it could have been so much more.
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