Longshot is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Lionel C. Martin, and co-written by Lou Pearlman, as a promotional tool to promote the acting debuts of his succession of successful boybands and girl groups, such as NSYNC, O-Town and Natural, as well as singer Britney Spears, girlband Innosense and pop-hip hop trio LFO, all of whom had cameo appearances in the film, as Pearlman had worked with all of them during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Hunter Tylo, Paul Sorvino Antonio Sabato Jr., Zachery Ty Bryan, and Kenny Rogers star in the film and Spears has a cameo.
The plot recounts the tale of a young boy, Alex Taylor, who gets caught up in his brother's activities as a gigolo, and uses each of the said pop acts as a tool within the film.
Contents
Plot
Alex Taylor lives in Los Angeles with his older brother, Jack, who works as a personal fitness trainer and sometime gigolo. Alex's classmates begin to harass him after he misses the game-winning shot at the end of one of his high school's basketball games. Meanwhile, Laszlo Pryce, a rich and corrupt businessman, discovers Jack's affair with his wife (Mitzi Martin). Laszlo threatens to kill Jack and Alex unless Jack travels to New York City to seduce a widow named Rachel Montgomery. On the verge of selling her company, Laszlo wants Jack to relay any inside information he can discover about the impending transaction. Fearing for his younger brother's life, Jack brings Alex with him on the trip. The con begins to unravel when Rachel and Jack fall for each other while Alex similarly falls for Rachel's daughter, Kelly. Jack reveals to Rachel why he's in New York, and the two conspire to expose Pryce. Rachel, though, needs to raise two million dollars to save her company. In a stroke of luck, Alex wins a contest to shoot a halftime, half-court shot. He makes it, Rachel keeps her company, Laszlo is arrested, and everyone lives happily ever after.
Cast
Tony DeCamillis as Jack Taylor
Hunter Tylo as Rachel Montgomery
Joey Sculthorpe as Alex Taylor
Paul Sorvino as Laszlo Pryce
Antonio Sabato Jr. as Tommy Sutton
Jessica Wesson as Kelly Montgomery
Tara Davis as Vicky Thompson
Gilbert Gottfried as Mr. Chadwick
Ellen Albertini Dow as Mrs. Fleisher
Zachery Ty Bryan as Deke
Danielle Fishel as Gloria
Jeremy Wieand as Chip
Louis J. Pearlman as Captain Lewis
Mitzi Martin as Mrs. Pryce
Colin Bain as Hundel
NSYNC1
Britney Spears as Flight Attendant
Kenny Rogers as Pilot
Harry "K.C." Wayne Casey as Co-Pilot
Darrin Dewitt Henson as Male Flight Attendant
Dwayne Johnson as The Mugger
O-Town2
LFO3
Innosense4
Soundtrack
The soundtrack to the film was released on March 5, 2002, via Transcontinental Records. The album features brand new recordings from NSYNC and O-Town specifically for the film.
"Feel the Love" - NSYNC
"Me (Boom Shelak, Lak, Boom)" - LFO
"See You Again" - O-Town
"Put Your Arms Around Me" - Natural
"Let's Get this Party Started" - Take 5
"Wishing on Every Star" - Innosense
"So Often" - C-Note
"It Don't Bother Me" - Brizz
"She's a Mystery" - Becker
"In and Out" - Ali Dee
"I Just Wanna (Be with You)" - Bon Voyage
"Happy" - Keli Michaels
"Fall in Love" - Nichole Carter
"A Reason to Love Me" - Joey Sculthorpe
"Longshot Theme" - Lalo Schifrin
"Longshot Theme" (Remix) - Lalo Schifrin
"Comatose" and "All Around" - Jaymeer were used in the chase scene.
Production
About one-third of the film was service-produced in Toronto, which doubled up as New York City within the film, under contract with The Danforth Studios Ltd, a subsidiary of SpaceWorks Entertainment Inc. The film was a complete commercial failure, taking in nowhere near the $20 million it cost to film at the box office. The film was also panned by critics, who claimed that many of the pop acts who appeared in the film later claimed to have only appeared due to the amount of pay they would receive for a cameo appearance.
Earlier on, the film was known as Jack of All Trades.
Release
Longshot was released in theatres on October 25, 2001 in Germany, where all of Pearlman's boybands had enjoyed success long before their international debuts. It was never released to theaters in United States, instead being shown on the ABC Family as a television movie, and later released on March 26, 2002 on video and DVD as a home entertainment release. The film was also packaged with copies of Crossroads, a film which starred Spears, in selected FYE stores in the United States. The film, in the United States, was released on VHS and DVD on March 26, 2002, by Spartan Home Entertainment.
International rights to the film are currently handled by VMI Releasing (partly owned by Vantage Media).