The Benchwarmers
by Dennis Dugan
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Craig Kilborn, David Spade, Jon Heder, Jon Lovitz, Rob SchneiderDirector: Dennis Dugan
Brand: Sony Pictures
Writer: Nick Swardson
Producer: Adam Sandler
Producer: Allegra Clegg
Producer: Barry Bernardi
Producer: Derek Dauchy
Producer: Jack Giarraputo
Writer: Allen Covert
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); Korean (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; Portuguese (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 80 minutes
Published: 2006-07-01
DVD Release Date: 2006-07-25
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of The Benchwarmers
Movie Review: A really funny film from start to finish
Summary: 5 Stars
I wasn't all that enthused about watching The Benchwarmers, but the film had me laughing from the very start and really surprised me with its home run of an ending, as it featured a really effective twist on an otherwise wholly predictable story. Underdog movies like this are a dime a dozen, but The Benchwarmers is really one of the better ones. With Saturday Night Live alums every where you look (and a little helping hand from Adam Sandler as co-executive producer), this movie has the comedy covered. Sure, it's decidedly juvenile in nature, but guess what? The film's main target audience is juveniles. Whether we like it or not, growing up involves a lot of fart jokes, underwear incidents, and name-calling. The comedy is actually one of the most realistic aspects of the film, if you ask me.
So here's the deal. After watching some bully athletes torment three kids for daring to play some baseball on "their" public field, Gus (Rob Schneider) decides to drag out the old mitt and play a little ball with two of his really dysfunctional buddies, Richie (David Spade), who sports a 3 Stooges-inspired haircut and works at the local video store, and Clark (Jon Heder), a really dumb paper-delivery guy. When the snotty ball players show up again, Gus challenges them to a game - and he, Richie, and Clark actually win, thanks to Gus' baseball prowess. Other challenges roll in, and before you know it local nerd-turned-billionaire Mel (Jon Lovitz) puts together a statewide round robin tournament, with the winner earning a fancy new stadium for his town. All of those who have suffered at the hands of bullies, young and old alike, start turning up to cheer on their "Benchwarmers" 3-man baseball team. Now you might think that, in the end, something happens to Gus and his severely baseball-challenged teammates somehow manage to win the day for all of the nerds and geeks supporting them. You might think that, but you'd be wrong - sort of, anyway. The way the ending comes off is no less corny than the rest of the movie, but it is rather delightfully different and serves to reinforce the message of the whole story.
It's sort of a shame that the movie has to be PG-13, since even younger kids will get a big kick out of it, but I don't know that I would have done anything differently (well, a little less projectile vomiting, maybe). Kids can be as crude as they are cruel (and I can pretty much assure you that your little eight-year-old angel will understand every crude gag in this film). I'm just thankful the beef stew thing wasn't around when I was a kid - if you don't know what I'm talking about, just nod your head and move on because I can assure you it's nothing you would want to have stored in your personal memory banks of childhood. As for the other stuff like pulling someone else's pants down, taking a shot in the groin, losing control of a bat and hitting all sorts of things with it - it doesn't matter how old these gags are, they're still funny, dadgum it (when they happen to someone else, at least). Some of the jokes do get stretched a little too far, but I think I laughed at every one of them.
The film also has a few interesting cameos. I was thrilled when my all-time favorite player, Reggie Jackson, showed up - and he brought lots of comedy with him as he tried to turn the utterly hopeless Richie and Clark into ball players. Molly Sims and Erinn Bartlett add just the right touch of eye candy (even though there's no way, in any universe, that the salad girl would fall for David Spade's mop headed character). Still, it's nice to dream. It's also nice to laugh, and you should be doing plenty of that as you watch this film play out.
Summary of The Benchwarmers
Features include:
?MPAA Rating: PG-13
?Format: DVD
?Runtime: 80 minutes
Credit The Benchwarmers for achieving the impossible: It makes the 2005 remake of The Bad News Bears look like a masterpiece. They're essentially the same film, with the same lowbrow PG-13 humor (mostly involving bodily functions, broad slapstick, little people, nerds, geeks, and nose-picking), but this baseball comedy earns a few brownie points for its heart-warming message about including non-athletic kids (i.e. "benchwarmers") in Little League baseball, if only to boost their confidence and give them a moment of ball-field glory. It's a pleasant sentiment intended to encourage under-achievers to feel good about themselves, and that makes this loose-and-goofy vehicle for Rob Schneider, David Spade, and Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder an easygoing time-killer. Parents with good taste should be warned that his movie has no taste at all (it's hopelessly mired in the swamp of fart jokes and juvenile sight-gags), and is there really a need for mild profanity in a movie like this? That said, there are a few laughs in the efforts of Schneider and his ultra-nerdy pals as they form a team of rejects and go to bat against an enemy squad of current and former school-bullies, led by former late-night talk-show host Craig Kilborn. In addition to Schneider and Spade, Saturday Night Live alumni Jon Lovitz and Tim Meadows show up for an easy paycheck, and director Dennis Dugan handles the dumb-and-dumber shtick as if he were on vacation, sipping margaritas and shamelessly going for the easy laughs. If that's what you're looking for, you've come to the right place.--Jeff Shannon
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