There’s another heartfelt sports drama on the horizon. Johnny Knoxville is set to lead Sweet Dreams, which follows a softball team made up of players in substance abuse recovery.
Heartwarming sports dramedies and comedies started having a resurgence last year with Next Goal Wins, Champions, and The Boys in the Boat. While all of these movies struggled at the box office and received mixed critical reviews, they resonated with audiences. Each received stellar audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and was labeled highly underrated, and The Boys in the Boat even beat box office predictions seemingly just from word-of-mouth marketing. Needless to say, audiences still find a typical sports underdog story irresistible.
Next Goal Wins and Champions were also able to work some creativity into their underdog stories. For example, Next Goal Wins featured the American Samoa national football team, which was dubbed the worst in the world, while Champions saw Woody Harrelson leading a team of neurodivergent players. It’s always especially touching to see those whom society will often write off proving how capable and resilient humans truly are. Sweet Dreams is shaping up to be the next touching and unique underdog sports tale.
What to expect from Sweet Dreams
Paramount recently dropped the first trailer for Sweet Dreams and announced the movie will release theatrically on April 12 and on digital on April 16.
The trailer sees Knoxville as Morris, a man struggling with alcoholism, who enters a recovery residence with several other men. While recovery is difficult enough, the men suddenly find themselves in danger of being kicked out from the only home they have when the recovery residence goes up for auction. Hence, the group has the idea to participate in a softball tournament in hopes of winning $80,000 and keeping their home. Getting ten men in recovery into shape to be softball champions is no easy task and is bound to be filled with both laughter and tears.
Jackass star and stunt performer Knoxville will portray the lead role of Morris, a father who quickly gets pulled into the role of softball captain. Meanwhile, starring as Morris’ teammates are Reservation Dogs‘ Bobby Lee as Cruise, Anyone but You star and rapper GaTa as Jake, Mo‘s Mohammed Amer as Pete, comedian Theo Von as Garvey, Jay Mohr as Frank, Jonnie Park as Dip, and Adam Faison as Stew. Tower Heist star Kate Upton has also signed on to portray a character named Kat. Rounding out the cast is Anderson .Paak as D Squiz, Jamie Ohlsen as Stacy, Tristian Thompson as Richie, Sara Tepper as Lily, and Ashley Hogan as Syd.
The official synopsis for Sweet Dreams reads:
Johnny Knoxville, Mo Amer, Theo Von and Kate Upton unite in this wild and off-the-wall journey of second chances from the producer of The Peanut Butter Falcon. Forced into rehab at SWEET DREAMS recovery center, Morris (Knoxville) struggles to confront the wreckage of his life. But when their house goes up for auction, he reluctantly agrees to coach their misfit softball team of recovering addicts to win a cash prize and prove that everyone, despite their past, can hit a home run.
Sweet Dreams has quite a bit of potential as an inspirational sports dramedy, especially given that it has stacked up a diverse and hilarious cast. Knoxville has successfully translated his own experiences with substance abuse to the screen before (RIP Reboot) and hopefully, this will also be a positive and authentic representation of individuals in recovery from substance abuse.
(featured image: Paramount Pictures)
