With Snoop Dogg as the lead, audiences can expect a whole lot of gangster attitude and graphic dialogue in The Underdoggs. The film’s context is not inspiring but somehow its directing is clever. Movies in which a sports celebrity is serving probation usually grab my attention. I enjoy comedic scenes and bizarre connections like those in Role Models (2008) and Champions (2023) which both featured characters during a probationary period. However, in The Underdoggs there is also a lot of Straight Outta Compton (2015) poured all over it. The foul language even expressed by very young characters made watching The Underdoggs uncomfortable at moments.

The film focuses on a man named Jaycen played by Snoop Dogg. Jaycen uses to be a professional football player and now lives in a high-end mansion in California. His reputation has been down the drain for years. His agent Ryan (played by Kal Penn) believes that due to Jaycen’s bad reputation finding speaking or networking opportunities is not worth this time. Jaycen’s problemslead to a harsh plateau which puts him in a position to do community service where he ends up coaching a young football team of misfit kids. The film is about how aformerly famous athlete thrives in community service to prove himself worthy.

At the beginning of the film, the writing is atrocious due to the repeated graphic language by Dogg and the athletes on the team he is coaching. The dialogue was a big turn-off for me in The Underdoggs. It was hard to sense a feel-good vibe with the slew of bad language, particularly from the teenagers. It brings too much negativity to a story that should be about good sportsmanship and self-improvement. The film does have some happy moments where Jaycen provides inspiration to his team, but most of the time the movie is dominated by Dogg’s attitude.

The vulgarity does not stop and is combined with poor behavior by the players as well. Viewers would reasonably expect some encouragement based on the film’s setup, but there is very little joy to be found amidst the foul-mouthed characters. The Underdoggs is one of the most disappointing movies so far this year but could have been improved upon if the language had been toned down.

While the film suffered from poor writing for a sports flick, the negativity was likely added for entertainment purposes. One high note comes in the way of a twist. The character Kareem, played by Mike Epps, is arguably a worse influence than Dogg’s character, Jaycen. Both are not great role models to inspire young kids, but they come around over time. Dogg and Epps as partners-in-crime will appeal most to young viewers.

Overall, the context remains the biggest problem with the film. It never successfully finds the right mix of being funny, serious, and heartfelt. The script is filled with so much toxicity that it is hard to find a joyful mix. Will Jaycen achieve success as a coach? Find out in The Underdoggs. Two out of four stars.