Woody Harrelson, a champion of an actor himself with a long, distinguished career, is returning in a new sports comedy film appropriated titled Champions. Outlets such as Empire released the first official trailer for the film today, giving us a first-hand look.

In the film, Harrelson plays a minor-league basketball coach named Marcus Marakovich who aspires to one day move up into the NBA. However, he brings his temper too far onto the court and winds up getting fired from his position on air during a game. Coping with the shame and humiliation, Marcus winds up drinking heavily afterward and mistakenly gets behind the wheel. A car crash and a court date later, he gets sentenced to an ironic form of community service: coaching a Special Olympics basketball team.

Marcus at first approaches his new position with uncertainty and gruff cynicism. Already bristly and awkward with any kind of personal relationships, he struggles to both professionally and personally connect with his new team. However, overtime he comes to find more in common with each of them than he thinks, and realizes just how talented all of them are in their own right. As he bonds with them he also becomes protective, shielding them from the same stereotypes and insults he once thought and muttered under his breath. He starts to become not only a better and stronger coach than he was before, but a better person overall.

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A Big Comedy Reunion for Two Big Friends

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This film is already being heralded by fans as the big cinematic reunion for close friends Bobby Farrelly and Woody Harrelson. The two worked together before on another sports comedy classic Kingpin (1996), which Farrelly directed. With his brother, Farrelly also co-wrote and directed other landmark comedies the late 1990s and early 2000s, including Dumb and Dumber (1994), There's Something About Mary (1998), and Me, Myself and Irene (2000).

Throughout the trailer we can see Farrelly's trademark style of comedy that seems almost perfectly written just for Harrelson. The film evokes a genuine, wholesome charm with well-placed humor, and we can also easily see that the rest of the cast carries just as much talent, especially the youngest actors. Alongside the seasoned Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters) and Cheech Marin (Tin Cup), we meet Kevin Iannuci, Ashton Gunning, and the enigmatic Madison Tevlin.

Distributed by Focus Features and Universal, Champions is currently in post-production and is slated for release on March 24, 2023. It is an American remake of the original Spanish film of the same name, originally released in 2018. Harrelson was first announced as the lead actor for the remake last year, to much fan anticipation.