'The Underdoggs': Release Date, Cast, Trailer, and Everything We Know About Snoop Dogg's Sports Comedy (2024)

Legendary rapper Snoop Dogg is back for an all-new R-rated comedy, this time in a starring role with The Underdoggs. Coached by Drumline director Charles Stone III, The Underdoggs can essentially be described as a raunchy version of Will Ferrell's soccer comedy, Kicking and Screaming. Here, Snoop Dogg stars as Jaycen Jennings - a washed-up professional football player who is ordered to perform community service after crashing his expensive sports car. Given his experience with football, Jennings is ordered by the judge to coach a youth tackle football league, which surprisingly ends up giving him a new purpose in life.

Believe it or not, The Underdogs, despite being a completely fictionalized story, is loosely based on actual events. That's because Snoop Dogg himself actually founded the Snoop Youth Football League in 2005, which is a non-profit athletics organization hoping to give inner-city kids the opportunity to instill positive values through sports and teamwork. While The Underdoggs looks like a movie that will be more for adults, it still seems to celebrate the values that Snoop Dogg sought to spread with his football league.

To learn more about the Snoop Dogg-starring comedy and its cast, trailer, release date, and more, here is everything we know so far about The Underdoggs.

When Is 'The Underdoggs' Coming Out?

Snoop Dogg will become an unlikely role model to a dedicated group of young footballers when The Underdoggs spirals onto streaming on Friday, January 26, 2024. The sports comedy was previously scheduled to release on October 20, 2023, before being delayed to January 2024.

Where Can You Watch 'The Underdoggs'?

The Underdoggs will be premiering exclusively on Amazon Prime Video come this January, meaning that a subscription to the streamer will be required to see Snoop Dogg's latest comedy. Being one of the only streaming platforms where one can stream content exclusive to Amazon and rent content that isn't, Prime Video has one of the best libraries of diverse content in the streaming world right now. Just recently, Amazon celebrated the holidays with the Christmas comedy Candy Cane Lane, starring comedic icon Eddie Murphy.

The Underdoggs was initially set up to be a theatrical release by Amazon MGM Studios, but in early December it was announced that the film would be premiering exclusively on Prime Video, due to the decline of R-rated comedies in theaters.

Does 'The Underdoggs' Have a Trailer?

Prime Video released both a green band and a red band trailer for The Underdoggs on December 6, introducing audiences everywhere to the unique story of Jaycen "Two J's" Jennings. The trailer begins with Jennings reminiscing on his prestigious career as a football pro, only for all of that to come crashing down when he speeds into a moving bus. Being found liable for the accident, Jaycen is sentenced to teach a youth football league, even though it's clear that the young players don't take him remotely seriously. Jaycen finds a surprising assistant coach when he nearly gets robbed, with the culprit being an old friend of his named Kareem (Mike Epps). He also gets some advice from his old coach (George Lopez), who advises Jaycen that he can only really help these kids win games if he helps himself first. With their help, Jaycen may just have what it takes to go from a great professional football player to a great youth football coach.

Who Stars in 'The Underdoggs'?

Though Snoop Dogg is certainly best known for his career as a rapper and music producer, he also has acted in more than a few films and shows. Examples of his roles include Blue in Training Day, Smoove Move in Turbo, Huggy Bear in Starsky & Hutch, and many, many more. In fact, Snoop Dogg has acted in so many projects that he has nearly 300 IMDb-credited acting roles, even more than his IMDb-credited soundtrack roles. Snoop also recently starred in the Jamie Foxx-starring vampire action comedy, Day Shift.

Joining Snoop on his character's journey to become a great youth football coach is an impressive supporting cast, starting with Friday franchise star Mike Epps, who will be playing Jaycen's friend and assistant coach Kareem. Also a part of the cast is comedian and Blue Beetle star George Lopez, playing Jaycen's former coach from his earlier football playing days. Also in the mix are Sonic the Hedgehog star Tika Sumpter and stand-up comedian Andrew Shulz. Even Kal Penn makes an appearance, with the red band trailer making a direct reference to his iconic role in the Harold and Kumar series.

What Is the Plot of 'The Underdoggs'?

The official plot synopsis of The Underdoggs reads as follows:

Jaycen "Two Js" Jennings (Snoop Dogg) is a washed-up ex-professional football star who has hit rock bottom. When Jaycen is sentenced to community service coaching the Underdoggs, an unruly pee-wee football team in his hometown of Long Beach, California, he sees it as an opportunity to rebuild his public image and turn his life around. As Jaycen works to transform the foul-mouthed Underdoggs into top-notch champions, he reconnects with his past, including an old flame and few of his ex-teammates and rediscovers his love of the game.

Who is Making 'The Underdoggs'?

Directing The Underdoggs is Charles Stone III, best known for his work on the drumming drama Drumline. Snoop Dogg himself and The Cupcake Guys producer Constance Schwartz-Morini reportedly pitched the concept for the film, with the screenplay being penned by #BlackAF and Grown-ish writing duo Isaac Schamis and Danny Segal. Home Sweet Home Alone producer Jeremiah Samuels will be executive producing.

Also attached to the crew of The Underdoggs is composer Joseph Shirley (Creed III), editor Paul Millspaugh (Barbershop: The Next Cut), production designer Mark Garner (The Longest Ride), art director Kimberly Blaurock (Doom Patrol), and costume designer Provi Fulp Ramphal (What to Expect When You're Expecting).

Other Sports Comedies Like 'The Underdoggs' You Can Watch Right Now

Cool Runnings (1993)

Based on a true story (kind of), Cool Runnings tells the unlikely underdog story of the first-ever Jamaican Bobsled Team. Once the highest-grossing live-action Disney film ever, the film centers on four young men who wish to make it big at the Olympics. With the help of a disgraced Olympic coach, they may just find what they've been looking for.

Watch on Disney+

Kicking & Screaming (2005)

In Kicking & Screaming, suburban dad Phil Weston (Will Ferrell) has spent his whole life being un-upped by his dad, Buck (Robert Duvall). That goes double for soccer, but when Phil gets the opportunity to coach his son's soccer team, he sees an opportunity to finally prove himself. However, when he gets addicted to coffee, Phil becomes the sports-obsessed maniac that he always hated in his father.

Watch on Freevee

Champions (2023)

Just like Snoop Dogg's character in The Underdoggs, Woody Harrelson's character in Champions is also a former pro who is ordered to coach for community service. Marcus used to be an accomplished assistant coach for basketball, but when he gets caught with a DUI, he must now coach a basketball team comprised of kids with intellectual disabilities. With the help of a reformed Marcus, this team might have the chance to go all the way to the Special Olympics and become Champions.

Watch on Prime Video