Robert Aldrich's 1974 offbeat comedy The Mean Machine (soon to be re-released on DVD as The Longest Yard), starring Burt Reynolds, gains nothing from this heavy-handed remake, which alternates weak humour - the inmates are a bunch of unfit, mainly stupid louts, topped off by The Monk (Jason Statham), the meanest, stupidest lout of all - with real violence. Jones is - well, Jones; he's reasonably watchable but it's hard to forgive his character the dirty behaviour excused by a lame speech about the high-octane, irresponsibilityinducing nature of football fame. See the original.