Netflix's larger strategy for staying ahead of their competition in the streaming wars seems to entail making every kind of genre movie that's out there, in an effort to offer something for (somewhat literally) everyone. In recent weeks alone, they've premiered new throwback buddy action-comedies, multilingual arthouse dramas, zany rom-coms, psychological thrillers, and, well, whatever you call Coffee & Kareem. And while they haven't shied away from family films (see Shaun the Sheep 2), their latest release, The Main Event, sees Netflix trying their hand at a weird cross-promotional movie targeted firmly at younger audiences in the vein of Space Jam and, more specifically, 2002's NBA fantasy-comedy Like Mike. Both amusingly ridiculous and completely by the numbers, The Main Event makes for generally watchable (though very disposable) kid-friendly fluff.
The film revolves around Leo Thompson (Seth Carr), an eleven-year old WWE fanatic whose home life isn't going so well; his mother recently left him and his father Steve (Adam Pally), and while Leo's grandmother Denise (Tichina Arnold) is staying with them to help with the transition, Steve is usually busy working two jobs to pay off his debts - and whenever he's not, he goes out of his way to avoid talking to Leo about his mom. However, when Leo stumbles upon an enchanted wrestling mask which, when he puts it on, transforms him into a wrestling superstar, he decides to use it to compete in a local WWE NXT competition offering a cash prize big enough to get him and his dad back on their feet. But first, he'll have to work his way through a whole lot of wannabe WWE athletes and prove he's got what it takes to become a champ where it really counts: in his mind and heart.
If that plot sounds a bit like it was conceived by a kid, it's because The Main Event (which is credited to four different writers) often feels like it was too. That's also part of the film's charm and what makes it far more entertaining than its premise (it's basically Like Mike, only with professional wrestling) would suggest. Far from embracing any sense of real-world logic, The Main Event takes place in a reality where Denise barely blinks an eye at learning Leo has a magical wrestling mask and nobody seems to realize he's an eleven-year old boy when he puts it on. Story-wise, the film is as formulaic and predictable as one would expect from a glorified kids commercial for the WWE (that's not hyperbole either; it was produced by WWE Studios), but it also serves up valuable life lessons for the juice box crowd about physical strength and how it means nothing without emotional intelligence. It also has a bonkers fart gag to rival the ending to Dolittle because, y'know, kids love fart humor.
Behind the camera, director Jay Karas draws from his years of directing TV sitcoms to positive effect and keeps The Main Event rolling at a steady pace, never pausing too long in-between jokes and making decent use of every trick in the sports movie playbook (rest assured, there are multiple montages). He and his cinematographer Karsten Gopinath similarly refrain from doing anything fancy with their camerawork; the movie typically looks about as polished as a TV show, sure, but it also knows how to properly showcase the talents of the various WWE athletes (Otis, Mia Yim, The Mix, and many more) who pop up, frequently as themselves. The other characters are typically as cartoonish as actual wrestling personas, be they the boys who bully Leo at school or Ken Marino as Frankie, a scheming manager determined to turn his monosyllabic client, Samson (Babatunde Aiyegbusi - yes, that one) into a champ. Fortunately, Carr is perfectly charismatic as Leo, as are Arnold as his zany, but ive, grandma, Aryan Simhadri and Glen Gordon as Leo's eccentric friends Riyaz and Caleb, and Momona Tamada as Leo's sorta-crush turned pal Erica.
As much as The Main Event plays out like it was developed from a check-list of what a kids movie needs to be to have broad appeal in the current marketplace of home entertainment, the moments where it fully commits to the ludicrousness inherent to its premise help to offset its more calculating elements. There's still not a lot of reason to check it out unless you have children (and even they may prefer something more sophisticated) and/or a soft spot for goofy family-friendly films of a bygone era a la Like Mike; even WWE fanatics would probably be better off catching up on or rewatching something like Fighting with My Family instead. But who knows: perhaps kids of the 2010s will one day look back on Netflix's latest with the same fondness their parents have for the silly sports comedies they grew up on.
The Main Event is now streaming on Netflix. It is 101 minutes long and is rated TV-G.
