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A based-on-a-true-story inspirational tale of the first girl quarterback to take a team to the Pop Warner Super Bowl, The Longshots is directed by Fred Durst and . . . wait, hold up a sec. Fred Durst? The guy from Limp Bizkit? Yes, indeed. All sorts of existential questions must follow, like, will the next Air Bud movie be directed by the lead singer of Korn? But back to The Longshots, an amiable family pic starring Ice Cube as an out-of-work new-metal singer, er, factory worker who teaches his shy niece to play football. Turns out she’s a natural, and before long, she’s made her down-on-its-luck town’s Pop Warner team, leading it to victory and restoring community pride. The script may have taken an hour to write, and I hope they got a bulk rate on generic inspirational music, but Cube and his young co-star, Keke Palmer (“Akeelah and the Bee”), are plenty charismatic, and Durst doesn’t knock over the camera. 109 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Circle/Chestnut Hill + Suburbs
