“Mean Machine” is a loose remake of a film called “The Longest Yard” with Burt Reynolds. I’ve never seen the original but this British adaptation (changing the sport from American football to the international version) is more entertaining than it should be.

In “Mean Machine”, ex-footballer Vinnie Jones (“X-Men: The Last Stand”, “Gone In Sixty Seconds”) plays ex-footballer Danny Meehan, who gets arrested for drunk driving and assault. In prison he’s asked to coach the inmates’ football team. He reluctantly accepts the job and challenges the guards for his team’s first match and that’s when the film gets really silly but also really good. It’s a prison movie and a sports movie and although the tone at times seems conflicting, it somehow manages to score.

Vinnie Jones is by no means a good actor but here he works because he’s really just playing himself: a tough football player. Most people can work in films when given the right role and this is an example of that. The other inmates are alright but nothing special, with the exception of Jason Statham (“The Transporter”, “Crank”) as a serial killer, who makes for arguably the funniest goalkeeper ever. Statham provides a lot of humour with just a few simple glances and steals every scene he’s in.

“Mena Machine” can get perhaps a little too serious as a prison movie for its own good but there is something about the way it’s constructed that makes it a funny movie. Of course like any sports movie, one of the highlights has got to be the final match and this movie doesn’t disappoint as it’s ‘prison rules’, literally. I highly doubt “Mean Machine” is anybody’s idea of high art; however it is my idea of a fun time with movies. It’s a movie that manages to use Vinnie Jones in a suitable part for him and gives us arguably the best performance of Jason Statham’s career.