The Underdoggs review – Snoop Dogg turns kids’ team coach in wholesome sports comedy

Snoop plays a former sports star who takes on losing pee-wee outfit in a charming comedy that has more than a passing resemblance to Bad News Bears

When laconic rapper-turned-actor Snoop Dogg is called on to appear in a film, he more often than not plays himself or a version thereof - and so it goes again in this salty but ultimately very wholesome sports movie. There's even a sly parallel between the character Snoop plays and the efforts he's made in the real world setting up an American football league for kids. Yes, his thespian range may be pretty limited, but there's no denying Snoop has a palpable onscreen charisma and a good sense of comic timing that director Charles Stone III skilfully directs around.

The plot, as old as time - or at least as old as vintage 1976 comedy The Bad New Bears - posits Snoop as JJ, a once-feted professional football player best known for his mildly disappointing career despite early promise and lack of loyalty to anyone one team. Struggling to make a comeback as a commentator, JJ hits rock bottom when his reckless driving causes an accident and a judge he knew from the old days sentences him to 30 days of community service, picking up dog poop in a city park in Long Beach, California. There, JJ notices Cerise (Tika Sumpter), an ex-girlfriend from high school who is now a hard-working single mom trying to support her pre-pubescent son Tre (Jonigan Booth, a find) while he plays ball with a team that is, of course, bottom of the league. Before you can remember how to spell Walter Matthau, JJ has signed on to coach the team, aiming to turn these Underdoggs" into a viral success story he can hype on his own podcast and thus parlay into better career prospects for himself.