Starring David Koechner and Carl Weathers. Rated 14A.

The term "comeback" describes the act of succeeding after a major fall. Unfortunately, this movie is not the comeback. It's the other thing.

The nominal subject of the movie is Lambeau "Coach" Fields, the worst leader in sports. The real hero is David Koechner, getting a shot at headlining after years of terrific character work in comedies. He was a grinning merchant of death in Thank You for Smoking, the patronizing manager in Waiting”¦, and blustery closet case Champ Kind in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

Although cut from the same cloth, Fields seems much less sympathetic, possibly because there's no sane protagonist for him to play off.

The movie is at its funniest in the opening montage, where we are given a historical overview of the versatile Fields and his inverted Midas touch. For example, we see him in the dugout of the 1986 Boston Red Sox, distracting Bill Buckner with inane chatter. Later, he has choice words for Zinedine Zidane at the 2006 soccer World Cup.

Reduced to jacking off stud horses for a living, Fields is persuaded to return to competitive coaching by loyal assistant Freddie (Carl Weathers), who arranges a gig calling plays for the Comebacks, a dismal college football squad based in "Plainsfolk, Texas".

Although we get a glimpse of the coach's family dynamics, which consist of a loving wife and a rebellious daughter, the movie has no real interest in the character. Nor does it have the wit to follow Fields's demands for real football-player behaviour in other words, failing grades and felonies with a real satire of the sporting mentality. Instead, we get a barrage of so-so sight gags.

These range from cameos from sports types to brief snippets that re-create/mock scenes from an assortment of jock hits, like Radio, Rudy, Field of Dreams, Bend It Like Beckham, and Remember the Titans. It's a dizzying and ultimately bothersome and futile parlour game. You're supposed to be squinting at the screen, wondering if you're seeing a reference from Any Given Sunday or We Are Marshall. The movie becomes a catalogue of film references, an activity so purely nerdish that a cameo by Dax Shepard actually perked me up. Folks, that's not good.