This spoof comedy follows an out-of-luck coach, Lambeau Fields, who takes a rag-tag bunch of college misfits and drives them towards the football championships. In the process, this life-long loser discovers that he is a winner after all by redeeming himself, saving his relationship with his family and friends, and finding that there is indeed, no "I" in "team" - skip ad - Genres: Comedy and Sports Running Time: 1 hr. 24 min. Release Date: October 19th, 2007 (wide) MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout and some drug material. Distributor: 20th Century Fox Distribution Cast And Credits Starring: David Koechner, Carl Weathers, Matt Lawrence, Brooke Nevin, George Back Directed by: Tom Brady Produced by: Adam F. Goldberg, Peter Abrams, Robert L. Levy

The slapdash, ultimately tedious comedy “The Comebacks” — in which a loser coach named Lambeau Fields (David Koechner) leads a misfit team to victory — is one of those parody movies that presume that merely making reference to another film constitutes a joke.

Shout-outs to “The Longest Yard,” “Miracle,” “Rocky,” “Rudy,” “Friday Night Lights” and many other movies are strewn throughout its running time like used DVDs crammed into a Blockbuster bin. There’s even a mentally challenged team mascot modeled on the title character from “Radio,” inevitably named iPod (Jermaine Williams).

The movie’s low aspirations are depressing because its best gags are agreeably demented.

The selfish, showboating receiver (Jackie Long) collects mint-condition My Little Pony merchandise. The apple-pie quarterback (Matthew Lawrence) practices ballet in a tutu and fantasizes his teammates lip-synching “It’s Raining Men” in the locker room. The coach’s neglected spouse (Melora Hardin) almost succeeds in passing off her young lover as an exchange student until he tells the coach he’s from Makingsweetlovetoyourwifeistan.

And there’s just one word to describe the sequence in which the locker room lights dim, spotlighted players croon the opening lines of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and then the walls part to reveal the arena stage on which the team will finish the number, complete with stage pyrotechnics and a climactic split-screen image of a silhouetted iPod dancing: genius.

“The Comebacks” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has profanity, sexual situations and slapstick violence.