CHAMPIONS
★★★
OUT NOW / CERT 12A / 123 MINS
DIRECTOR Bobby Farrelly
CAST Woody Harrelson, Kaitlin Olson, Ernie Hudson, Cheech Marin
Once best known as purveyors of puerility, the Farrelly brothers are these days exploring a modicum of maturity. Peter Farrelly scaled Oscar glory with Green Book; now younger sibling Bobby returns with this comedy-drama about disability and difference that’s more grown-up than, say, Dumb And Dumber. Based on the Spanish film of the same name, it tells the story of a fading basketball coach (Woody Harrelson) forced into a stint of community service managing a Special Olympics basketball team. It teeters on the edges of bad taste and condescension, but never totally crosses, mostly celebrating its young cast rather than making them the butt of jokes. It’s crude, first-base, and stuffed with sports movie clichés, but this is a film with its heart in the right place.