Champions

This very amusing film deals with Marco, Javier Gutierrez, is the second coach of an important team in the Basketball league ACB, when at a party he makes a strong discusion, being fired out of the stadium . Later on, a drunk Marco drives his automobile, then he has a car crash against a police car. After that, he is detained, really arrested, judged and condemned. As a judge woman sentences wether 2 years spend in prison or 90 days making community services. There Marco is forced to train a team of botcher mentallity disabled players, they are called Los Amigos or The Friends. And their principal objective : to get create a competent team capable to win the Spanish league . As Marco and his players with the unexpected help of his separated wife Sonia : Athenea Mata , try to win the national campionship and to become themselves the Spanish champions.

This above average charming story packs basketball sports, entertainment, humor, emotion, good feeling and lots of fun. The sympatheic roles and funny script use bewildering incidents to give us an attractive flick and that keeps you entertained for the almost 125 minutes of duration. Following the amusing and hard preparatives of the bungler team formed by naive players and eventually the final competing match, tournament taking place in Tenerife, Canary Islands, though the film was actually shot in Huelva and Madrid . The most part of the film concerns in the elaborate process to train them, including a great number of laughters, myhem and confusion. Main and support cast provide enjoyable intepretations. Real starring is Javier Gutierrez as a trainer seeking redemption, he gives a terrific acting, as usual. Javier has already a long and successful career as cinema : Marshland, The motive or Autor, The olive tree, Plan de Fuga, 1898 los ultimos de Filipinas, Retribution, Truman, Assassin's creed , as TV series : Aguila Roja, Verguenza, Estoy vivo. He is well accompanied by a good support cast as Daniel Freire as a trainer, Luis Bermejo a a seller, Luisa Gavasa as his mother and Juan Margallo who long time ago he played the fugitive man in the classic Espiritu de la Colmena. Along with a fine plethora of secondaries, actually mentally disabled, such as : Jose Luna, Gloria Ramos, Sergio Olivo, Carrascosa, Julio Fernandez and special mention for Jesús Vidal who won Goya award as best newcomer secondary actor.

Being well financed by two important producers : Gabriel Arias Salgado and Alvaro Longoria. The motion picture was competently written and directed by Javier Fesser. He is a comedy and humor expert who has written and directed a few fims and shorts, such as : Mortadelo and Filemon contra Jimmy el cachondo or mission implausible, The big adventure of Mortadelo and Filemon, Candida, Camino, The miracle of P. Tinto. And shorts as Invictus, Bienvenidos and 17 year together. Rating 7.5/10. Better than average. Well worth watching. Fun for the whole family.