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BY TOM MEEK
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In a league full of spoiled über-ids, the NBA final between the Pistons and the Spurs was a refreshing sight, a nod back to the years of Larry, Magic, and Michael. Still, the NBA could take a lesson or two from Rebound, the Martin Lawrence vehicle where a big-time college coach’s ego swells to megalomaniacal proportions — and when it pops, he’s dropped to a rung lower than coaching pygmies in Alaska. No, we’re not talking Bobby Knight, but Lawrence’s Roy McCormick is a hothead who’s been phoning it in since winning the national championship. After killing a feathered mascot, he’s bounced from the collegiate ranks and forced to take up the reins at his old junior high, where if he can get it real, he can return to the big show. Of course he’s saddled with a team of misfits who haven’t scored a point (literally) all season. The underdog-redemption comedy has been bounced all over the court (and there’s more to come this summer with the Bad News Bears remake); yet director Steve Carr, on a small budget, generates enough affecting moments to carry Rebound beyond its predictability pratfalls. And though Lawrence isn’t convincing as a big-time coach, as a showboat who needs to take a tumble in order to wake up, he’s nothing but net. At the Flagship, Providence Place 16, and Showcase cinemas.
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