One of the first 2024 film slate additions is The Underdoggs, a sports comedy that stars hip-hop great Snoop Dogg and veteran actor/comedian Mike Epps.
Snoop Dogg plays a former athlete who gets himself into a little legal trouble and ends up becoming a more modest person as a result. He is compelled to use his football background to coach a youth league team in his former area as a kind of retribution for his transgressions. The former professional athlete is in for a long haul since working with children and coaching are not his strong abilities.
The Underdoggs: what more is there to know? We have a trailer and all the information we have so far, including the release date and the rest of the actors.
The Underdoggs Release Date
When The Underdoggs burst into streaming on Friday, January 26, 2024, Snoop Dogg will become an odd role model to a committed group of teenage footballers. The sports comedy’s original release date was October 20, 2023, however, it was postponed to January 20, 2024.
The Underdoggs Cast
Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., is back at the helm of The Underdoggs. The rapper has been showing off his acting skills in recent films including Day Shift, Bomb Pizza, BMF, and the House Party adaptation. This new film continues his tendency. For his work in the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show, he won an Emmy earlier.
Joining Snoop Dogg on the big screen is Mike Epps. Among the many successful films and television shows in which the actor and comedian has appeared are The Upshaws, You People, I’m a Virgo and Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. The next Madame Web will also star him.
Andrew Schulz (You People), George Lopez (Lopez vs. Lopez), and Tika Sumpter (Sonic the Hedgehog 2) make up the remaining core cast.
The Underdoggs Plot
Deathline reports that “The Underdoggs” follows Snoop Dogg, a disgraced former NFL great, as he coaches a minor football team to get out of jail after running into some legal problems. Nevertheless, other than that, most of the story points are kept secret.
Some have compared the film to “The Bad News Bears,” with a focus on youth football. “The Bad News Bears” (originally starring Walter Matthau and redone in 2005 with Billy Bob Thornton) is one of the most risqué PG-rated films ever filmed. While the protagonists in both films are different, they share the goal of helping a group of outcasts win a little league baseball championship and finding redemption as a result.
The films also feature Matthau and Thornton as former professional baseball players who blew their careers and became alcoholics. Even directors like Kevin Smith have praised the original, timeless underdog narrative as a top sports comedy of all time.
The Underdoggs Trailer
On December 6, Prime Video debuted the green band and red band trailers for The Underdoggs, immersing viewers in the one-of-a-kind tale of Jaycen “Two J’s” Jennings. In the first scene of the trailer, Jennings is reflecting on his legendary professional football career before it all comes tumbling down as he crashes into a moving bus.
Jaycen is ordered to coach a minor football league after being found guilty of the accident; nevertheless, it is evident that the players in the league do not give him any respect whatsoever. As Jaycen narrowly escapes a robbery—committed by his longtime buddy Kareem, played by Mike Epps—he discovers an unexpected assistant coach.
His former coach, George Lopez, offers some words of wisdom to Jaycen, telling him that he can only really assist these youngsters in winning games if he assists himself first. Their guidance might be the key that unlocks Jaycen’s potential as he transitions from a professional football player to an exceptional young football coach.
The Underdoggs Creators
Charles Stone III helmed The Underdoggs. After helming many films, he is well-versed in the art of filmmaking. “Drumline,” “Paid in Full,” “Mr. 3000,” “Uncle Drew,” and “Step Sisters” are among the feature films that the former director of music videos has directed. He was also a part of the cast of the legendary Budweiser “Whassuuuppp” ads from the late ’90s and early ’00s.
The screenplay for the film is a collaboration between Danny Segal and Isaac Schamis, who have previously written for “Grown-ish” and “#BlackAF.” Their first foray into screenwriting, “The Underdoggs” will be a feature film.